00;00;00;00 - 00;00;10;23 Dr. Amy Hecht Welcome to the next episode of Connect with Hecht, your guide to everything student life at Florida State University. 00;00;10;26 - 00;00;38;20 Dr. Amy Hecht I'm your host, Dr. Amy Hecht, vice president for student affairs. And today we're talking about living on campus at Florida State. So I have two special guest, Joe Czaja, our assistant director of Residence Life, as well as Johnnie Taylor, one of our resident assistants. So let's get started. So for both of you, tell me, what is it like to live on campus and is it important for those of students watching? 00;00;38;27 - 00;01;00;09 Johnnie Taylor I think maybe I could speak to this. Being the student in the room, and I myself have lived on campus going into my fourth year now. It really is important, I feel, and especially initially for those first year students, because there's really no other way to immediately get so connected into the community here at FSU and Tallahassee in general. 00;01;00;11 - 00;01;17;08 Johnnie Taylor Obviously, going to college for the first time can be very nerve wracking. It's a new experience. You're in a new place with lots of new people, but I find that residents living is a really great opportunity to ease that transition and really allow people to make friends and make connections from day one. 00;01;17;10 - 00;01;36;21 Joe Czaja I think the simplicity of it, of course, being on campus, you don't have to worry about commuting to campus and finding a parking spot. You don't have to, worry about, the difficulty of moving in off campus and not knowing what it's going to look like. You know that things are going to be set up for you. 00;01;36;24 - 00;01;55;24 Joe Czaja And ready to go. And so, to Jonny's point about connection, I think that, a lot of the what we know about college is that it's important to find those connections in the first six weeks of school, and our staff in the halls are dedicated to making that happen for you. And so that's one of the big benefits of living on campus. 00;01;55;27 - 00;02;07;04 Dr. Amy Hecht So you talked about the staff, and you're an RA, a resident assistant. Johnny, tell me, what do you do as an RA? And what are the other staff? Who are they that are living in the halls or working in the halls with our. 00;02;07;04 - 00;02;28;18 Johnnie Taylor Student as an RA? My main priority is to provide a safe, welcoming environment for my residents. Right now I'm an RA in traditions and I have about 4045 residents. And the first thing that we do to prepare for move in is we check all the rooms, make sure they're ready for new students. I think that kind of creating that really welcoming environment is the crux of my job. 00;02;28;20 - 00;02;46;09 Johnnie Taylor Besides that, there's a lot of administrative stuff as well. Of course, I work the desk and I help flow of traffic during move in and move out. So there's a lot of behind the scenes things as well. But I think the more front facing parts of my job are the most fun. And in terms of other staff that are in the buildings, we have DA's, which are our desk assistants. 00;02;46;09 - 00;02;52;29 Johnnie Taylor They also work the desk. They work the desk during the day when the RA’s are in class areas, work the desk overnight. 00;02;53;01 - 00;03;15;13 Dr. Amy Hecht Many of those watching are thinking about what it's going to be like to move in, decorate, live in our halls. What should they know in advance as they're purchasing things? What should they definitely not bring? But how do they make these spaces feel like home? And what is what can they do to personalize? 00;03;15;20 - 00;03;36;01 Joe Czaja The number one suggestion I have about decorating your space is to see your space before you buy whatever it is you want to buy. The worst thing you could do, and it's not that big of a deal, but it's just a hassle, is buy a rug that's too big, or buy a rug that's too small or you bring a microwave and your roommate brought a microwave. 00;03;36;01 - 00;03;55;24 Joe Czaja And so now we have two microwaves and we only needed one. And so a lot of those purchases, you know, we suggest waiting until you get here to really get a lay of your room and, and figure out what you want to do with it because, the, the basis, the general room is going to be, fairly similar across the board, but they're not all identical. 00;03;55;24 - 00;04;19;16 Joe Czaja Right. So, so it's challenging to buy some of those things in advance. I think we see a lot of people bring, rugs. We see a lot of people bring, shelving units that they build, and they use that to for extra storage. We see people bring hutches for their desks, or they attach headboards to their to their bed to make it feel a little more, a little more homey. 00;04;19;18 - 00;04;28;06 Dr. Amy Hecht And can they get their measurements of their room in advance? Do you give that out, or is that why you say, wait till you get here? Because there's some nuances depending on where your house. 00;04;28;07 - 00;04;52;05 Joe Czaja The second one, there are some nuances depending on where you are housed. We do try to strive for kind of a standard across the board, but to be able to give you a dimension of like, for example, the the is my room going to have a windowsill or is it not? Because I really want to do some, some plants on my windowsill so, you know, the depth of a windowsill or you know, how wide my closet is. 00;04;52;10 - 00;05;03;14 Joe Czaja The things that are pretty standard are, you know, the bed lengths and the bed dimensions and a lot of our, dresser drawers are the same size, but some of the foundations of the room are different. 00;05;03;19 - 00;05;25;16 Dr. Amy Hecht And what about hanging art or curtains? You know, you mentioned the headboards. Like, how are they attaching these to the wall? What should they bring with them? And you mentioned buying things when they get to Tallahassee. So maybe in that question too is is there enough in Tallahassee during move in. And where where can they shop when they get here? 00;05;25;16 - 00;05;31;09 Dr. Amy Hecht Because I imagine for some of our students that could be nerve wracking to not arrive with all the things they may need. 00;05;31;12 - 00;05;49;05 Johnnie Taylor My biggest pointer for that is bring the things that you know you'll need. So to your question about hanging things, command strips are always, you know, a good go to anything really that will avoid taking paint off the walls, okay? And especially not drilling anything into the wall. We don't allow nails or drills or anything like that. 00;05;49;06 - 00;06;04;20 Joe Czaja A lot of the walls too, are not going to accept a regular nail. They're plaster or they're cinder block. And so you could try and it's not really going to work well. And so then when you think, oh, I'll just drill it in like Johnny said, we would prefer you didn't. So command strips are a big one. 00;06;04;23 - 00;06;30;04 Joe Czaja I know a lot of folks visit, Target in town. We have multiple Targets. We have multiple Walmarts. We have Amazon. You have a UPS store on campus, and all of our students on campus get a mailbox. And so you can have whatever you want ordered, delivered to the UPS store on campus. And the UPS store will send you an email when your package has arrived and you can go collect it. 00;06;30;04 - 00;06;37;14 Joe Czaja You don't have to worry about, you know, being home to deliver your room or it's going to get delivered to the front desk. It's just going to come to the UPS store. 00;06;37;19 - 00;07;02;12 Dr. Amy Hecht Good advice. So if you can't find it in town, you can always order it and it can be delivered so for our students, many young people have not shared a room before. So they're coming to college for the first time and they're going to have a roommate likely. What do you see? In your residents, what is some advice and how do you help students feel comfortable living with another person for the first time? 00;07;02;16 - 00;07;19;14 Johnnie Taylor Yeah, I think I find that probably one of the biggest hurdles coming to, residence hall, especially, like I said, if you've never had roommates before, maybe you grew up with siblings, but you're maybe not in the same room. I my biggest piece of advice is trying to form a connection with them as soon as you can. 00;07;19;14 - 00;07;39;24 Johnnie Taylor I know on the housing portal they'll give you your roommates emails. When I was an incoming freshman, I emailed all of them, got their phone numbers, their social media, and we instantly created a group chat and already started making connections the summer before we moved in. I highly recommend that when you get to FSU, I really recommend just in general making your R.A. your best friend. 00;07;39;27 - 00;07;49;28 Johnnie Taylor We provide a lot of opportunities for mediation if need be, but also opportunities for you and your roommates to connect and grow and build that friendship even more. 00;07;49;29 - 00;08;10;21 Dr. Amy Hecht We get lots of advice, or lots of requests actually, to have a particular roommate, perhaps somebody they know from their home town. What what do you see in terms of predetermined roommates? Or sometimes they get matched up if they don't select a roommate, is there a better way to go about it? Is there a preferred way? 00;08;10;21 - 00;08;34;12 Joe Czaja I would argue, and I don't have the statistics, but I would argue that the majority of students that live on campus have a random roommate, and there are the folks who are rooming with somebody from back home or that they grew up with. That is certainly the minority across campus. And so when we have people who are, you know, making that new relationship, we have opportunities. 00;08;34;14 - 00;08;57;26 Joe Czaja To establish those boundaries through something like roommate agreements. And so those kind of unspoken things that you may not discuss unless you're prompted to, is what Johnny is going to ask you when you sit down for your roommate agreement and really kind of putting those things out there, they would talk about a cleaning plan. Did we talk about who's, you know, when are we going to allow guests over all of those things that are set up by you? 00;08;57;26 - 00;09;03;04 Joe Czaja And so, but if you don't have that conversation, then there's , some challenges there. 00;09;03;05 - 00;09;19;19 Dr. Amy Hecht Cooking. You mentioned a microwave earlier. How much are students cooking, especially in that first year or meal plans. What does that look like? What do they have access to and what should they bring or make sure their roommate is bringing so they can have the food that they would like to eat? 00;09;19;24 - 00;09;46;20 Johnnie Taylor Great question. It really depends on where you live. For example, currently I'm an RA in Traditions hall, which are apartment style residence halls. In those rooms we have a kitchen built in, so it's really easy. It's at your fingertips. You can make whatever you'd like in most of our halls, which are nine-month halls or suite style, there is a communal kitchen on each floor which you will share with several other students. 00;09;46;22 - 00;10;08;00 Johnnie Taylor In that case, I worked in Cawthorne Hall suite style hall for many years, and I did see them used frequently. They're really easy. They're kept clean, by our wonderful facilities staff and the amenities: They have a stove top, an oven, comes with a microwave, kitchen sink. So I think students are well equipped. 00;10;08;03 - 00;10;16;09 Dr. Amy Hecht With the microwaves down the hall. Do most students also have a microwave in their room and a refrigerator, or how does that work? 00;10;16;11 - 00;10;37;18 Joe Czaja We provide the refrigerators in every room. Okay. Whether it is the apartment style halls, in which case they'll have a full size fridge and our suite style halls, they have kind of the smaller mini fridges. So we do not, you know, permit folks to bring extra fridges. We take care of that for you. As far as microwaves, I really feel like it's people's personal preference. 00;10;37;18 - 00;10;56;07 Joe Czaja We have microwaves on the floor, but when you go in a lot of rooms, people have their own microwave as well. So, you know, that's something. And in terms of other cooking equipment you'd think about like an air fryer or something like that, very common. We just ask that it's cooked in the kitchen and not in the room. 00;10;56;09 - 00;11;02;08 Joe Czaja And if it is in the room, it's just unplugged and not in use. And if you want to use it, take it to the kitchen. 00;11;02;13 - 00;11;14;13 Dr. Amy Hecht What about candles? You mentioned not leaving things plugged in, candles and other things that you might be accustomed to at home that are not allowed in residence halls. 00;11;14;13 - 00;11;27;20 Joe Czaja So candles is a big one. And candles is one that we do not want to, have in our halls. Even if you have no intention on lighting it, if it has a wick and can be lit, it's not permitted, 00;11;27;22 - 00;11;29;06 Dr. Amy Hecht So not even the warmers? 00;11;29;06 - 00;11;45;06 Joe Czaja We don't want the warmers either. What would we do suggest is, , some of those air fresheners that you plug into a wall or a diffuser? You can get some scent in there that way. But we do not want candles. 00;11;45;06 - 00;11;54;09 Dr. Amy Hecht So when our students move in for the first time, walk me through what is move in like. What should they be prepared for other than it to be very hot? We know it will be hot. 00;11;54;09 - 00;12;09;26 Johnnie Taylor The first thing that students can expect is the building is ready to go. We're ready for you when you come here to move in. The RA staff has been working for probably a few weeks now already to get the building ready. The facility staff has been working for I don't know. I'm sure they never stop working to be honest. 00;12;09;26 - 00;12;22;19 Johnnie Taylor They're great. And, the first thing that we'll do is ask for your information. If you know your room number. If not, that's okay. We will assign you your room key, you'll sign the dotted line, and then you'll be ready to to move in. 00;12;22;23 - 00;12;23;12 Dr. Amy Hecht Okay. 00;12;23;14 - 00;12;48;09 Joe Czaja One of my roles in the department is coordinating move in and move out operations. And so Johnny spoke to the the in the hall part of it. Before you get to campus, you'll have signed up for a move in time. And that will be delivered to you in your FSU email. So we're going to give you, a 30 minute time slot, 30 minutes to an hour time slot, of when you're going to arrive. 00;12;48;09 - 00;13;07;25 Joe Czaja And that really helps us funnel traffic and, not only traffic on the streets, but traffic in the unloading zones and at the elevators. And so, you'll have a move in time slot. You're going to have these gray moving bins that are available to you for free. You likely have a cooler of water bottles out there. 00;13;07;27 - 00;13;20;12 Joe Czaja And we have an opportunity for you to pull up, unload, and then move your car to a nearby parking garage. And really try to keep that unloading zone free flowing so that, we can get as many people in as we can. 00;13;20;12 - 00;13;28;01 Dr. Amy Hecht So perhaps 2 or 3 adults unload into the bin, and then someone to move the car while the others bring it up. 00;13;28;03 - 00;13;30;06 Johnnie Taylor Yes, that sounds like a good plan. 00;13;30;06 - 00;13;41;09 Dr. Amy Hecht So after move in, they've moved in, gotten settled. What do they expect? Are there programs in the halls or their activities, and how do you help students get engaged? 00;13;41;12 - 00;14;09;01 Johnnie Taylor I think, like Joe mentioned, we're told about the first six weeks. It's really critical period for especially incoming students and just so happens that those first six weeks have so many programs housing throws on a bunch of stuff, but also the FSU community at large. There's really ample opportunity for first year students to really get connected. An example of that are the events that we host as RAs and also as the community complexes. 00;14;09;04 - 00;14;17;15 Johnnie Taylor RAs individually do an event or two a month and the community wide events that we'll have. That's for the whole community. Those are also once a month. 00;14;17;17 - 00;14;18;15 Dr. Amy Hecht Very good. 00;14;18;18 - 00;14;20;14 Joe Czaja Johnny will also host a floor meeting. 00;14;20;16 - 00;14;23;01 Dr. Amy Hecht Okay. So I'll have a floor meeting when I first arrive. 00;14;23;01 - 00;14;44;19 Joe Czaja Exactly, exactly. Your R.A. is going to host a floor meeting. And that's going to be an opportunity for you to get all the information about living in your specific hall that you're going to need. There's going to be information about make sure you attend the first day of classes, and friendly reminders, but also an opportunity for you to learn about, hey, here's things that are going on in the hall and on campus. 00;14;44;19 - 00;15;04;12 Joe Czaja It's all part of that floor meeting agenda. It's usually the night before classes. So usually that Sunday night, we hosted that Sunday night because theoretically, most people, if not all, are here by that point. So I do suggest making it to that so that you can be informed, not only about your hall, but about, you know, engagement opportunities. 00;15;04;15 - 00;15;21;05 Dr. Amy Hecht So they always swipe in to get into our residence halls. They'll have a floor meeting, they'll get settled in once they're in the groove of going to class and experience everything FSU has to offer. What role do you play? How do you interact with your residents? 00;15;21;05 - 00;15;50;11 Johnnie Taylor I think the RAs is, of course, a really fundamental role throughout the year, you see the most of your RAs at the beginnings and ends of the year because we're doing the floor meetings, we're moving you in. We're checking up with your roommates throughout the year. We're still there. We're doing classes. We're doing what we need to do, and we make it a priority to be able to still continue to keep up with you guys, being the residents, I would say throughout the year, residents shouldn't be afraid to contact their RAs if they need any help with roommate issues. 00;15;50;16 - 00;16;08;03 Johnnie Taylor We can set up those roommate agreements, have a little pow wow moment. Facilities, management issues. If something breaks, if there's a leak, if there's a scratch on the walls, your R.A. can help you submit a maintenance request and any other issue that you could think of under the sun. If it happens in the residence hall, the RA can help. 00;16;08;03 - 00;16;31;29 Dr. Amy Hecht So we have a tremendously talented new class coming in. Their academic scores are through the roof. Many of them, like we talked about, probably haven't had a roommate before, haven't had to share a room. What is studying look like, how those thinking about where am I going to study? What if my roommate is sleeping or is watching TV and I need to study? 00;16;31;29 - 00;16;34;03 Dr. Amy Hecht How does that work? And what do you tell first years? 00;16;34;03 - 00;16;54;19 Johnnie Taylor I think that's a very real concern for a lot of first year students. Luckily, we have already predicted this, and it's built into my job as part of the roommate agreement that we're going to talk about that. One of those sections is talking specifically about study time. And really the general flow and routine of the day. At what point do you guys want to start winding down for the night? 00;16;54;19 - 00;17;05;08 Johnnie Taylor At what point is it okay, I need to lock in. I need to do my homework. At what point is it oh, it's our social hour. We can bring friends over. We talk about that in length at the very beginning, so that we set expectations for the rest of the year. 00;17;05;11 - 00;17;23;13 Joe Czaja All of our halls have lounges. Whether that is, you know, kind of in the lobby area, a little more public. Every floor has a lounge, some are a little bit more private. And so I always encourage students, you know, if you want to get out of your room, that's fine, but there's not room for everybody at the libraries. 00;17;23;14 - 00;17;51;13 Joe Czaja We understand that. We try to create spaces that are, you know, conducive to studying. And and it's not just the space. It's but it's the furniture in the space, you know? And so we're constantly, overhauling the furniture in those spaces. The other thing we have is three academic, resource centers and so, those academic resource centers, if you're lucky enough to live, and Jennie Murphree, Degraff or Sally, that's where those are at. 00;17;51;13 - 00;18;05;28 Joe Czaja If you don't live there, you can still use them. You just have to go to them. But if you do live there, they're right downstairs. And so, those are staffed by our academic trainers. And again, another study space for you. If you don't want to travel to the. 00;18;05;28 - 00;18;09;21 Dr. Amy Hecht Library and those academic trainers are tutors, can they help you with your courses. 00;18;09;21 - 00;18;29;19 Joe Czaja Yeah. So we are constantly doing research on and working with the, academic affairs side of the House on what are the most challenging classes that we're seeing and making sure that we're having academic trainers that are fluent in those areas. And so we're keeping up with those metrics to make sure that we're as helpful as we can in those spaces. 00;18;29;20 - 00;18;51;23 Dr. Amy Hecht And we know that students that live on campus actually have higher GPAs that first year than students that live off campus. So obviously what you're doing is working. What about guests? If I wanted to have a friend from home spend the night? Are you allowed to do that? And how do you go about that if you can? And how do you navigate a roommate that may or may not want that to happen? 00;18;51;28 - 00;19;18;07 Joe Czaja Our guest policy, is set by the roommates. Okay. And so, we, you know, give you all the ability to choose for yourself how you want to handle that. And I would say for most people, it's it's a pretty simple process of communicating with your roommate. If you are struggling to have that communication point with your roommate, that's where someone like Johnny can come in and assist that conversation. 00;19;18;07 - 00;19;29;27 Joe Czaja But I think the worst thing you could do is just assume your roommate is good with it and then allow it to happen, because then we're just opening up the opportunity for some, disagreements. 00;19;29;27 - 00;19;48;06 Johnnie Taylor We do have an overnight guest policy that no guest may stay more than three consecutive nights in a 30 day period. That's just to prevent co-habitation. And, you know, navigating that discomfort that might come with, maybe your boyfriend is sleeping over every night and your roommate is having some troubles there. I always tell my residents communication is key. 00;19;48;06 - 00;19;58;08 Johnnie Taylor It's a cliche at this point, but you're living together for however many months. If you're not able to express how you feel, then it might not be the most comfortable situation for you. 00;19;58;10 - 00;20;16;16 Dr. Amy Hecht And at first, you might think you're going to be okay with someone you just moved in, you just meeting someone, you want to be agreeable. But as the stress of classes and you really get into a rhythm, you might change your mind. Yeah. And is that something you help them navigate if they've realized something is no longer working that they did agree to? 00;20;16;19 - 00;20;17;05 Dr. Amy Hecht Totally. 00;20;17;10 - 00;20;29;11 Johnnie Taylor I always tell my residents at the beginning of the year, and when we do the roommate agreement, that it's very flexible. It's not written in stone forever, that we can revisit and change things at any time. If at any point in the year that things change. 00;20;29;13 - 00;20;34;17 Joe Czaja We refer in housing to the month of October as “I hate my roommate month” 00;20;34;20 - 00;20;37;21 Dr. Amy Hecht It's not just Halloween. It’s also... 00;20;37;23 - 00;20;58;14 Joe Czaja It's it's also i, I hate my roommate month. And really, it's to your point that that kind of 6 or 7 weeks has gone by. The honeymoon period is worn off, classes are starting to really kick in, and the things that we're, you know, kind of rolling off my back aren't rolling off my back anymore. And now I'm, you know, frustrated. 00;20;58;14 - 00;21;02;13 Joe Czaja And so that's where, our staff can come in and help. 00;21;02;14 - 00;21;23;28 Dr. Amy Hecht So Johnny gets really busy in October. And so parents, when your student calls you, especially in October, this is a natural thing that happens, okay. And you are going to help them navigate through. And it's a natural part. Yeah. What are the other cycles or common things that are part of that first year growth? 00;21;23;28 - 00;21;45;06 Johnnie Taylor I think a big one that every college student can be thinking about already is burnout, especially toward the end of the semester, end of the year when finals start rolling around, it can kind of sneak up on you. I really, really encourage you again to use your R.A. as a resource and even if you just need to vent, if you just need someone to talk to you, if you need resources of any kind, that's what we're trained for. 00;21;45;09 - 00;21;46;04 Dr. Amy Hecht And you've been through it. 00;21;46;04 - 00;21;47;03 Johnnie Taylor Yes. 00;21;47;05 - 00;22;25;01 Joe Czaja I think one of the other cycles we see a lot are folks trying to balance their new amount of social time they have compared to high school. I have class here, and then I have four hours off, and then I have class here, and then Tuesdays. I don't have any class, you know, and so, it takes a couple weeks to really settle in and figure out, where I can spend my social time and how I want to spend that, to then also still showing up to class, ready with my homework done or showing up ready to take this exam. It’s not to say that it's got to be 100% academics 100% of the 00;22;25;01 - 00;22;29;03 Joe Czaja time, but it can't go the other way either. Everyone has to find that balance. 00;22;29;03 - 00;22;53;04 Johnnie Taylor There's an interesting adage I like, which is sleep more than you study. Study more than you party and party as much as you can. Okay, maybe maybe I shouldn’t say that. I think that's especially rings true for FSU students. We have a great campus life here, and there's so many opportunity for connection that sometimes that studying and especially that's the sleep can fall by the wayside. 00;22;53;07 - 00;23;12;21 Dr. Amy Hecht So yes, I think college just in general is not known for some of the best well-being practices. All nighters, greasy food. You hear about the beer and the parties, and then you're studying all night to, to to catch up. So making sure that you're prioritizing sleep and studying, that's why you're here. But make sure you have a good time. 00;23;12;23 - 00;23;15;00 Johnnie Taylor Exactly. Yes. There's a balance. 00;23;15;02 - 00;23;25;22 Dr. Amy Hecht What advice would you give to students who might be watching or getting ready to come to Tallahassee? Moving in and getting ready for this experience. What should they know? 00;23;25;24 - 00;23;35;04 Johnnie Taylor When you move in, push, not pull the gray beans, okay? You might cut your heel and have to get stitches. Not speaking from personal experience. 00;23;35;04 - 00;23;40;00 Dr. Amy Hecht Yeah, not a good start. Not a good start to the academic year. Okay. Any other advice. 00;23;40;02 - 00;23;58;18 Joe Czaja I have move in on my mind because that's one of my big roles. Two things. One, to absolutely bring and one thing to not bring. Okay. One, bring a water bottle for yourself is hot and we're going to have some water bottles. But if you want to bring your own and refill it, feel free. 00;23;58;18 - 00;23;59;27 Dr. Amy Hecht And we have the refill station. 00;23;59;27 - 00;24;20;07 Joe Czaja We have the refill stations in all the halls. The one thing you should not bring is the family pet. Leave the family pet at home. It's going to be hard to say goodbye and that's fine. But they are not permitted in the hall and we don't want to leave them in a hot car either. But it happens every move in at multiple halls where they'll check in with the dog on a leash. 00;24;20;07 - 00;24;27;27 Joe Czaja And it doesn't occur to them that the dog's not going to be able to come with you. And so that's my big suggestion. 00;24;28;02 - 00;24;44;20 Dr. Amy Hecht And good advice. Good advice. Now what if they need a special accommodation? What if there's something medically or otherwise that they need and you mentioned the family pet, but other animals. Yes. What are our rules around that? 00;24;44;20 - 00;25;10;04 Joe Czaja So we work in concert, I say we as University Housing. We work in concert with the Office of Accessibility Services. And if a student needs an accommodation, whether it's mobility or whether it's we talked about, fridges earlier, we do approve accommodations for extra fridges, whether it be for medicine or like a kosher situation. We allow service animals in the buildings. 00;25;10;04 - 00;25;27;03 Joe Czaja We allow emotional support animals in the buildings, but it has to be approved through the Office of Accessibility Services. And there's never, you know, going to be a situation where it's approved and the Office of Accessibility Services wasn't involved. 00;25;27;05 - 00;25;51;08 Dr. Amy Hecht So at this point, we actually have a little game for you. So our game is called Does It Dorm? So which items are allowed in a residence hall. And I'll say the name of an item. And Joe or Johnny are going to say it's allowed or it's not allowed. And if it's not allowed, what's an alternative. So air fryer, thumbs up or thumbs down. 00;25;51;11 - 00;25;55;10 Joe Czaja Yes. As long as you use it in the kitchen. Yes. 00;25;55;12 - 00;25;58;11 Dr. Amy Hecht Okay. Speakers. 00;25;58;14 - 00;25;58;29 Johnnie Taylor Yes. 00;25;59;04 - 00;26;00;15 Joe Czaja Good. With speakers. 00;26;00;18 - 00;26;03;18 Dr. Amy Hecht We just talked about it. But pets. 00;26;03;20 - 00;26;05;25 Joe Czaja Pets. You can have you can have a. 00;26;05;25 - 00;26;07;03 Dr. Amy Hecht Fish. You can have a fish. 00;26;07;03 - 00;26;07;09 Johnnie Taylor 00;26;07;09 - 00;26;23;27 Joe Czaja You can have a fish. Okay. A limit of a ten gallon tank. So we don't want an aquarium. But you can have a fish. And I would also suggest that you bring the fish home with you during breaks and don't, you know, just leave it for itself. 00;26;23;29 - 00;26;25;19 Johnnie Taylor Which I've seen. 00;26;25;21 - 00;26;35;02 Dr. Amy Hecht Well, rest in peace to those fish. So if you bring a fish, make sure you're taking care of it. TV, thumbs up, thumbs down. 00;26;35;04 - 00;26;40;12 Joe Czaja TV, TV. We're good with TVs and and we have TVs and all the lounges. 00;26;40;15 - 00;26;42;05 Dr. Amy Hecht Is there a size limit? 00;26;42;08 - 00;27;06;28 Joe Czaja There's no size limit, but, be smart, but a heads up the halls. We do not have cable. And so, you know, we have Wi-Fi and we have Ethernet, and you can connect your to your, you know, YouTube TV account or Hulu TV or Netflix, whatever you want to do. But you're not going to screw in a coax cable and get and get a channel, 00;27;07;00 - 00;27;11;20 Johnnie Taylor It's difficult also to mount them on the wall. So nothing too crazy. 00;27;11;23 - 00;27;15;19 Dr. Amy Hecht Yeah. And so be aware it's going to take counter space then if you can't mount them. 00;27;15;27 - 00;27;18;24 Joe Czaja It's going to be tough to hold the TV with a command strip. 00;27;18;24 - 00;27;23;06 Dr. Amy Hecht Yeah the command strips are amazing but they're not there yet. What about a bicycle? 00;27;23;11 - 00;27;30;16 Joe Czaja Bicycles are permitted. Okay, we just we just do not want them to obviously ride them in the in the hallways. 00;27;30;17 - 00;27;35;24 Dr. Amy Hecht Where do they store their bicycles? They're not storing them in their residence hall room.? 00;27;35;24 - 00;27;44;04 Joe Czaja They do. So that they are able to, if they're not locked up outside. The majority of students they’ll lock them up outside. 00;27;44;04 - 00;27;45;09 Dr. Amy Hecht They bring them in the hall. 00;27;45;11 - 00;27;55;13 Johnnie Taylor I will add that that's only for bicycles that don't have any kind of motor. Any motorized vehicle has to be kept outside the hall. 00;27;55;16 - 00;27;58;11 Dr. Amy Hecht So electric scooter, Electric bike, outside. 00;27;58;15 - 00;27;59;20 Johnnie Taylor They're fire hazard. 00;27;59;21 - 00;28;06;23 Dr. Amy Hecht Fire hazard. What about a shelf and is it freestanding. You mentioned hutches. They should probably bring some additional storage. 00;28;06;23 - 00;28;07;28 Johnnie Taylor Shelf definitely. 00;28;07;28 - 00;28;33;08 Joe Czaja And shelf is great. That shelf is great. We have plenty of folks who bring kind of assembled wire shelving or they'll grab a, you know, a wooden shelf or something. Those additions that people make to their, desk spaces. We also see some things that go over, the mini fridge and kind of they'll put a, you know, a coffee machine there and it kind of becomes a little espresso station. 00;28;33;10 - 00;28;34;03 Joe Czaja Yeah. 00;28;34;05 - 00;28;36;08 Dr. Amy Hecht Desktop computer. 00;28;36;10 - 00;28;36;29 Johnnie Taylor Yeah. 00;28;37;02 - 00;28;38;06 Dr. Amy Hecht Thumbs up. Okay. 00;28;38;06 - 00;28;39;00 Joe Czaja More than welcome. 00;28;39;01 - 00;28;47;29 Dr. Amy Hecht More than welcome to students need a computer of some kind. Laptop or desktop. Like, from your advice, Johnny, is that a good thing to consider bringing? 00;28;47;29 - 00;28;54;26 Johnnie Taylor I think in 2025, going through college without some sort of laptop or desktop would be very difficult. 00;28;54;28 - 00;29;16;10 Dr. Amy Hecht All right, good advice. Well, I think they passed. They did a great job. Thank you. So our next segment is dear Amy. And we do this every episode. And I have some, some questions that were written in. And so I'm going to rely on my guest to help me answer these. How are our residence hall made safe and what are our safety protocols that are in place? 00;29;16;12 - 00;29;39;15 Joe Czaja So, one of the things you mentioned earlier was all of our residence halls are locked 24 seven and the the people who have access to that hall are just the folks that live there. So, if you live on campus and you live in Landis and you want to visit your friend who lives in Wildwood, you're not going to be able to swipe into Wildwood and go visit your friend. 00;29;39;17 - 00;30;03;26 Joe Czaja They're going to have to come down and and get you and bring you up to their space. We have 11 hub desks across campus that are operated 24/7 by a combination of our desk assistants and our resident assistants. And we also have them doing rounds overnight. And so we'll do, usually about 3 to 4 sets of rounds throughout the night. 00;30;03;26 - 00;30;24;12 Joe Czaja And we'll kind of vary the timeframe. And those rounds are really just building walks and just kind of, maintaining the safety and security of the building, and ensuring that we're putting eyes on, all the situations and making sure the doors are secured. A couple other things I could keep going. There's so much we, 00;30;24;14 - 00;30;24;24 Johnnie Taylor It’s very safe. 00;30;25;08 - 00;30;37;19 Joe Czaja We we also have a strong relationship with our police department. One of my roles is is coordinating our relationship with the adopt a cop program. So every residence hall has, police officer assigned to that hall. 00;30;37;22 - 00;30;45;16 Dr. Amy Hecht What is your advice? How can I make my dorm room feel like home? What are the essentials I need to bring so I am comfortable? 00;30;45;18 - 00;31;04;14 Johnnie Taylor Great question for me. Mattress topper. Mattress topper? Yes. Making making your bed like your little private oasis. You know, like, after a long day of of class and doing whatever else, you're exhausted. You want to collapse into a nice soft bed. So getting a really thick mattress topper can can really change the game. 00;31;04;14 - 00;31;05;10 Dr. Amy Hecht Okay. 00;31;05;12 - 00;31;19;20 Joe Czaja I would suggest your own lighting, and the reason I would do that is because, you know, we just have very aggressive LED lights. Just in the middle of the ceiling. And a lot of people, enjoy a softer light. 00;31;19;20 - 00;31;22;16 Dr. Amy Hecht So lamp, reading lights. 00;31;22;19 - 00;31;34;27 Joe Czaja Floor lamps. We see a lot of, string lights throughout the rooms, too. We have students who make it their personal challenge to never use the light switch just because they want that softer light. 00;31;34;29 - 00;31;47;08 Dr. Amy Hecht And you also have, for those watching that are very competitive, a decorating competition and you can win some serious prizes if you win. Is that right? I know I follow you. 00;31;47;08 - 00;32;07;07 Joe Czaja So we do a lot of, monthly door decorating competitions where you'll walk through the halls and you'll see doors decorated for Halloween. You'll see them decorated for the holiday season. You'll see kind of spring break slash spring themed doors. And folks really go all out decorating their doors. 00;32;07;07 - 00;32;22;22 Dr. Amy Hecht But you also give them points if they decorate the inside really impressively as well. So you can use your creativity that way. And it's not on the first day you wait a while, you can ship all the things you need to go to the local Target or Walmart. 00;32;22;24 - 00;32;30;20 Joe Czaja Be on the lookout for the best room on campus opportunities that we run, and it's generally towards the latter half of the fall semester. 00;32;30;20 - 00;32;32;17 Dr. Amy Hecht So they have several months. Yes. 00;32;32;19 - 00;32;47;14 Joe Czaja We get you plenty of time to get your room set up and then you could win pretty neat stuff. As much as like, you know, a nice Keurig coffee machine. We don't just, give you a t shirt. You know, we try to make it worth your while. 00;32;47;17 - 00;32;50;01 Dr. Amy Hecht Well. Thank you for being here with us today. 00;32;50;04 - 00;32;50;29 Johnnie Taylor Thank you for having us. 00;32;50;29 - 00;33;09;01 Dr. Amy Hecht It was wonderful chatting and educating those of you watching on what it's like to live on campus. So don't forget to follow Connect with Hecht, your guide to everything student life at Florida State University, and don't hesitate to call in or write in with your details of what you'd like us to cover next.