Hey, Look at that. I'm an Outreach Assistant!!!

Hi! My name is Tyler and I'm the newest Outreach Assistant for University Housing. Some FYI points on me: I am a sophomore here at UWM and I'm a first year BFA Stage Management major in the Peck School of the Arts. When not working on shows, I am also working on an Honors  degree through the Honors College. During my free time I enjoy working as a Campus Ambassador for UWM and now as an Outreach Assistant. Some things that not many people know about me: I'm a Violinist, and when I get the chance, I play in the University Community Orchestra. I have an obsession with the TV show: Scandal. I also love listening to show-tunes. Last, but not least, my two front teeth are fake due to a bicycle accident when I was little (Yea, I'm accident prone).


I was born and raised in Wausau, WI where I attended Wausau East High School. My freshman year in High School I accidentally walked in on a tech crew meeting! Little did I know, I would end up being a theatre major. I was set on another university since my sophomore year of high school, but when I finally toured campuses I decided that UWM was worth looking into. Of course I never expected to fall in love with UWM as much as I did. The city has so much to offer, so I got the "feeling" this was the right school, kinda like Say Yes To The Dress. (Yea, I'm obsessed with that show too.) I ended up coming back to visit UWM too many times than I would like to admit and as they say, the rest is history.


Coming from central Wisconsin, I came to Milwaukee not knowing anyone. I might even admit that I was scared. My first year I ended up living in the Honors LLC on floor 13 of West Tower in Sandburg. Living on floor 13 was probably the best decision I ever made. I ended up getting to know all 72 people that lived in my house and to this day, a bunch of us still go out to grab dinner every once and a while, go out running in the middle of a rain storm, as well as go ice skating at Red Arrow Park when the weather is nice. My favorite thing that I have come to love about Sandburg is the fact that I can wake up 15 minutes before class, and most of the time still make it there on time. (Totally not a morning person here.)

I can't believe I just finished my 3rd semester here at UWM! Time really flies when you're having fun I guess. This year I currently reside in Sandburg East Tower and I'm in the process of learning how to cook. If I do say so myself, I think I'm not half bad.

 If you have any questions about my experiences here at UWM or about University Housing, feel free to give me a shout out at: uhmktg@uwm.edu!

Till next time my friends,

-Tyler

West Towers Triple Threat

View from my West Tower room

Its my turn to share my roommate experience, living in the residents halls for the past four years has allowed me to collected a large amount of roommate stories of my own, my friends, and residents. My first year in itself was probably one of the most interesting years of my life, especially when it comes to roommates.

Four years ago was when RiverView was opened for its first full year. It was the year that our Living Learning Communities found life.  I remember getting my room assignment on the myhousing site and it listing that I would be living in a triple in West Tower living on the honors floor. Now I grew up sharing a room with my younger brother up until high school but it had been 4 years since I had to share a room. I was nervous but paying for college on my own a triple was my best option so sharing a room was the best option.

I remember moving in and being so excited to finally be at UWM on my own. Except I was that kid who moved in and went on one last vacation before school started hardly even meeting my roommates.  I don't recommend it since that first year is where you learn some much about the campus, the people you live with, and what to do.

Now my roommates  were rather different than myself to say the very least. One was big into sports and came to school with a not very opened mind.  The other a very smart guy who I would say didn't make the best of life choices. Than you have me the kid who will talk to almost anyone but really does his own thing.  I was the lucky one because if you don't know what a triple looks like it is pretty much a double and single room put together and I got the single room space.

My roommates and I got a long rather well, sure we had a few arguments at first considering this was back in 2008 during a very historical time for our country and not everyone had the same view points or opinions but we learned from each other.  The first we had to figure out was to work around each others sleep schedules when some of us had earlier classes than others or one liked to sleep in more than another.

We ended up spending a large amount of time together especially at the start of the year. We would play video games and have tournaments and competitions. We would have movie marathons and get each other hooked on different shows that we owned. We even would go to the beach and play volleyball out on the courts outside of Sandburg. Something we get together now and still do 4 years later. I think what I enjoyed the most was our entire house felt like our room because our community was so close that we would go in and out of each others rooms and do things with a good amount of people from the floor that it made it easy for us to all live together.

 

One lesson that students quickly learn sharing a bathroom is that it is a team effort to make sure it stays clean. Not to mention, if you don't buy your share of toilet paper you will surely be the most hated person in the suite.

Having three boys living in a room however did have its downsides. The biggest thing we ran into being an issue was keeping the room clean.  We made the mistake of having the messiest roommate having his part of the room by the door. There would be times that he would have clothes blocking the door way or his garbage over flowing. Something that really became an issue during second semester when everyone just became a little to comfortable with each other.

My RA and me!

We figured that talking to him and asking him to do something about it would fix our problem. We talked to him several times and each time he would cleanup or move things around. However as the semester went on it got worse. Eventually we had to go talk to our Resident Assistant because the problem seemed to progress. Our RA sat us all down and we worked out a plan that worked for all of us and made things a lot more livable. It didn't solve all the problems but it sure made the rest of the semester a lot more enjoyable.

Overall I loved my first year here at UWM and will surly be in touch with my roommates and friends from that year for a very long time. Its great to live in a community meeting people from so many different backgrounds and places. It really helps you figure out who you are and what you like as it opens your mind to new ideas.  I didn't come to school knowing really anyone and honestly I am so thankful to have had the random roommate and be off on my own. I got to make friends with whoever I wanted to and do whatever I wanted to do and not worry about leaving someone out or leaving them behind.