Humans of Res Life, Carlee

I really like to get to know people. When I first became a tutor, it was the first time I realized that getting to know and helping others could be such a rewarding experience. I wanted to be a leader in other capacities and have a bigger role within Rutgers. The best part of the job is being part of a collaborative staff, that’s what makes it fun. 

I tutor at the Plangere Writing Center on the College Avenue Campus. I am a writing and English tutor and I specialize in English as a Second Language (ESL). I mostly tutor students who take expository writing and EAD (English for Academic Discourse), a basic composition class for students where English is their second language. I started out as an intern for ESL at the writing center. As an intern, I learned a lot about how other cultures learn and how we can use that to teach international students. I definitely gained more intercultural appreciation; I never realized how different but similar cultures can be. As a tutor, you have to find these intricate differences, be really creative, and think critically to connect with students in a way they understand.

I am a part of Douglass Residential College. During my sophomore year I was a part of the public relations committee for the Douglass Student Recruitment Network, an organization geared towards recruiting women in highschool to be a part of the all women’s college on campus. It was really an exciting experience to welcome high school students to campus and get to share my experiences with them. I was also part of the Global Village living-learning community on the Douglass Campus. I lived in the Business House and we won the Global Summit last year. The theme for the summit was “forced migration, gender and global allies” and my group and I focused on local organizations that help refugees. We made a slide deck and we each chose an organization and talked about it. It was amazing to present to the people in the audience because the audience included people who were a part of the organizations we presented on so it was good to get their perspectives.

I grew up in a very women-empowered environment because I went to an all-girl school from preschool to sixth grade. I have always been very appreciative of that experience and the women before me that made it possible for me to have an education. I also learned the importance of having a supportive community of other women. But beyond gender, it’s important to advocate for equity across the board: we all want an opportunity to be the best person we can be so it is important to recognize the limitations certain groups face and I learned how to not only stand up for myself but others as well. 

I am majoring in communication because I never really knew what I wanted to do and it is such a broad major. One day I saw an email from Michele Lam-Fortes, the Assistant Director of Marketing for Residence Life, who was looking for marketing interns and I decided to reach out. I thought it would be the perfect position for me: I am an Apartment Assistant working in Residence life and possibly pursuing marketing as a career. It turned out to be the perfect job. I am a person that appreciates color and creativity and I realized that I could do that on my social media — so I started taking pictures to fit the theme that I created on my Instagram. I like it to be colorful and about me and places that I have been. This summer, one place I went was Niagara Falls and it was really cool to take the picture and bring out all the colors of it, playing with editing and making it part of the story I am trying to tell on my instagram.

This year, the residence life marketing team has decided to do something different for the housing selection process. We recognized that a lot of students have had some confusion with the process. To clear up confusion, we decided to make an informative video that students can watch and hopefully understand housing selection better. I think that this is important because there are so many things that living on campus offers and students should be informed of their options. There are so many perks of living on campus; making friends, the convenience of being close to classes and the experience of living on your own.

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