Saint Mary’s welcomed Paton Roden and Nicole Hundt as hall directors for Residence Life in Regina Hall and Le Mans, respectively.
Roden said she received her graduate degree from the University of Virginia, and was an assistant with student life during her time there.
“When I had my campus visit I just fell in love with the community and all of the people here,” Roden said.
Hundt said she spent two years as a hall director at Rutgers, where she learned she wanted to work at a women’s college.
“I worked at the women’s college at Rutgers and knew that I needed to work at a women’s college,” Hundt said. “It was kind of my calling and where I needed to be.”
Hundt said the Saint Mary’s community was an important draw for her.
“It’s great,” Hundt said. “It’s hard to describe, but it really is. There’s this sense of family and community with everyone and not just your small pockets which I think is very hard to find on other campuses and everyone genuinely cares about you as a person.”
Roden said that sense of community existed on a level deeper than the college as a whole; she said she also enjoys building a sense of community within their respective residence halls.
“The primary reason [I wanted to be a hall director] is probably to be able to have relationships with students and help them develop during their college experience,” Roden said. “I had many mentors that helped me so that motivated me to want to be that mentor now.”
According to Hundt, the best part of her job is the effect she can have on her residents.
“The daily interactions with the students,” Hundt said. “Just being able to walk outside my door and talk to someone and see how their days are going and just knowing that those small conversations are having a larger impact.”
Hundt said she realized during college that she preferred to work with students in a “life skill capacity” rather than in a classroom format, and being a hall director allowed her to do that.
“I wanted to be a hall director since my freshman year of college,” Hundt said. “I became an RA and I found the whole world of residence life and student affairs through that.”
Hundt said she felt move-in went smoothly, despite challenges posed by a broken elevator in Le Mans.
“It was very daunting knowing that I was walking into a staff of eighteen that didn’t know me, but I think it all worked out,” Hundt said. “We’ve all really clicked and gotten into a good groove. I think that our personalities really mesh well with each other but we’re a very well rounded staff.”
As Roden’s first month at Saint Mary’s nears its end, she said she looked forward to the rest of the year.
“I’m excited to see what this year brings,” Roden said. “I think that Saint Mary’s is a wonderful community from what I’ve seen so far and I’m excited to get a feel for it and become really involved.”
