Hello RCers!
As you may already have heard, there is a new face in the RC staff as of this Spring! That would be me, Taranbir Kaur, the new RC Student Affairs Coordinator. I am excited to work with the amazing RC family to create fun times, new memories and a home away from home for you.
Now, for those of you who know me, you may be thinking, Taranbir isn’t new to the RC, she’s been here forever! That is very true, hehe, the RC can’t get rid of me!
Four years ago, I joined the RC as a timid freshman and I just graduated this May with majors in Social Theory & Practice and Spanish, as well as a minor in Food & the Environment (why are there so many “ands”). Well, you will get to know me more soon enough. Today, I want to share with you some funny stories from my time as a young 18 year old joining the RC.
Fun fact: I actually knew nothing about the RC when I first joined! I only knew that if you loved language learning, the best place to learn was the RC, so armed with that information, I scribbled my name on a piece of paper at a recruiting event where Logan Corey (former RC Admissions Director), who would soon become my mentor, talked me through all the groovy aspects of the RC.
I quickly forgot of course, I mean, there is so much information to absorb (plus senioritis was kicking my butt). I felt so unprepared and nervous (I didn’t even take a tour of the building before I joined), but everything turned out swimmingly! Charlie, the first RC advisor I met, walked me through literally everything and I was feeling okay. I had my dream schedule and cruised through my summer.
Next fun fact: I almost missed convocation! As a young 18 year old, I participated in a dance competition literally the day before classes started. Because of that, I missed Welcome Week, and I knew nothing about campus.
When my friend told me RC Convocation was happening at the Crisler Center, I quickly put that into my GPS … and ended up at the Chrysler center … on North Campus.
Needless to say, I was nervous, friendless and kind of sweaty (it was late August and hottt). But during that whole panic, I was emailing Esha Biswas, the RC Student Affairs Coordinator at the time, for directions and advice, and she guided me through the whole panicky process.
When I finally arrived on campus, I honestly was anxious. I felt unprepared, scared to live in the dorms, and shy. I very quickly found out that I had no reason to be so nervous!
One day, as I was walking back to my dorm room, I found a sticky note on my door asking if I wanted to go to an event with a fellow RC student who lived in my hall.
Four years later, she’s my roommate and close friend! That’s the culture here in the RC – everybody kept their doors open, went to events and had study groups together. I joined an RC Forum, met a mentor, and sang my heart out with my fellow RC Singers.
The one class I struggled with the most was Intensive Spanish. Another fun fact: I was so shy my freshman year, I walked into my language lunch table, holding my tray of food, and literally walked right out of the room! I thought to myself, I can’t speak Spanish, how am I going to participate? I don’t want to embarrass myself, ew. Now of course, I had nothing to worry about.
My Spanish instructors offered me tutoring outside of class in addition to regularly scheduled office hours. They would stay later if I needed help and took care to make me feel comfortable in class. My friends that I made in Intensive 2 helped me at the language tables, and I in turn helped my classmates that knew less Spanish than me! I made so many friends through the Spanish Program as well. A lot of us ended up doing PALMA together, we took LSA Spanish classes together and we stayed in touch.
I mean, I have many more embarrassing stories to tell, but the moral of my story is that you have nothing to worry about! In every challenge that I faced, most being my own fear, I had a friendly face to turn to that would help me out. There was never a challenge that I couldn’t overcome, because my RC family had my back, and I hope to do the same for you!
You are always welcome to come chill in my office, contact me with any question no matter how small you think it is (because, trust me, I probably had the same question too), and always lean on me with any worries.
I hope you have a wonderful RC experience, and who knows, you may have a hard time leaving this place just like me.
RC Love,
Taranbir
kaurt@umich.edu
