Housing staff, residents benefit from externships

For three staff members who work and live in the living centers, participating in an externship program gives them not only exposure to other campus departments, it also helps them better connect their residents to Grand Valley.

Andy Beachnau, director of Housing and Residence Life, said the externships were created to promote professional development opportunities for staff members who are in entry-level positions. “This is a way to get residential staff working with other offices,” Beachnau said. “The host office benefits, the professional staff benefit and their residential community benefits.”

Staff members work at an externship site about 10 hours per week, in addition to their normal living center duties. Participating departments supervise the staff member, as does an assistant director from the housing office.

Brandie Tenney, Laker Village apartment director, is working with Joyce Van Baak, a director in Advising Resources and Special Programs. “Advising has always been an interest of mine,” Tenney said. “For some students, it’s how they connect to the university. I’ll be better able to help my students if I know what to offer them in terms of academic programs and courses.”

Tenney is shadowing Van Baak when students meet with her for advising sessions. Eventually, Tenney will advise students, with supervision from ARSP staff members. “This is a good way for me to see if this is where I want my career to go,” she said.

Danyelle Thompson called housing her passion, saying that she enjoys the student contact. Thompson has worked for the housing office for three years and is the director for the Stafford and Swanson living centers, which house first-year students. During her externship at the LGBT Center, she has found that the hours spent there help her better communicate with her residents.

“Talking with upperclass students at the center helps me think about my students here, and how I can help them if they have concerns about classes or majors,” she said.

At the center, Thompson performs clerical tasks and helps director Milt Ford plan programs. She is also researching how students who identify as transgender cope with university life, so she added that being involved in the center is an advantage.

Megan Sanderson, director of five living centers, is serving an externship with the Women’s Center. She is an advisor to the student organization Eyes Wide Open and helped coordinate Take Back the Night events in late October.

Some of Sanderson’s residents participated in those events, which Beachnau said is the cornerstone of the externship program. “I would like them to be able to take a piece from their externship back to their residents,” he said.

Brandie Tenney, center, talks with a student in the Advising Resource Center. The Laker Village apartment director is serving an externship with Joyce Van Baak, at left / Photo by Amanda Pitts