{"id":170,"date":"2013-07-12T15:47:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T15:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/?p=170"},"modified":"2013-07-12T19:45:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T19:45:03","slug":"getting-to-know-us-rd-james-spaan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/2013\/07\/12\/getting-to-know-us-rd-james-spaan\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know Us: RD James Spaan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"James\"<\/a>Hey hey!\u00a0 My name is James Spaan and this is my first year as a Resident Director at Puget Sound!\u00a0\u00a0 I am excited to be serving the entire North Quad, which includes: Anderson\/Langdon (\u201cAL\u201d), Schiff and Harrington (\u201cScharrington\u201d), as well as, Smith and University (\u201cSmuni\u201d).\u00a0 As a Resident Director, it is my responsibility to make sure that you, as students, are supported in your academic, social, civic and personal endeavors.\u00a0 Sounds like a lofty job doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Thankfully I have 19 wonderful Resident Assistants and other student leaders that I get to work with and support in making Puget Sound the best place to live and learn!\u00a0 As a Resident Director I live and work in the halls, so you will probably see me as you head off to class or out to enjoy the wonderful outdoors that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.\u00a0 Feel free to stop on by my office on first floor AL anytime to ask a question or to just chat!<\/p>\n

When\/where\/in what position did you begin your Residence Life career?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0 I started in undergrad at Calvin College where I was a Community Partnership Coordinator (community service coordinator for the hall), Resident Assistant, Residence Life Intern, and Front Desk Assistant.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say, it is not really a surprise that I ended up here at Puget Sound, working as a Resident Director.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite thing about Tacoma?\u00a0 <\/i><\/b>Despite having lived in the Pacific Northwest almost my entire life, I never really had a chance to explore Tacoma.\u00a0 Now that I am here and have been exploring it, I love that it has big city amenities with a small town feel.\u00a0 Tacoma has awesome museums, parks, new restaurants, and plenty to explore!<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s your favorite place to go in Tacoma?\u00a0 <\/i><\/b>Check back with me in a month and it will probably have changed, but at the moment, anything close to the water.\u00a0 Point Defiance, the waterfront, narrows bridge.\u00a0 Just beautiful.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s your favorite spot on campus?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 Anything to do with Commencement!\u00a0 The walkway is a great place to relax and enjoy the green spaces of Puget Sound and the new hall is going to have some amazing views of Mt. Rainier.<\/p>\n

What is your spirit animal?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>A penguin!\u00a0 I swam with them in the Galapagos and I couldn\u2019t stop grinning for a year.\u00a0 They just crack me up and make everyday a great day!<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s your hometown?\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Aloha, OR.\u00a0 Not to be confused with the Hawaiian word for \u201cHello\u201d my lovely home town is pronounced Ah-LO-wa.\u00a0 It is the original home of Reo\u2019s Ribs, owned by Snoop Dogg\u2019s uncle Reo.<\/p>\n

What type of relationship do you have with the residents in your area?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b> My goal is to help guide the community in a direction that is supportive, fun and engaging.\u00a0 A lot of this work comes through working with my wonderful Resident Assistant team and Residence Hall Association.\u00a0 With that said, I also am always available (and usually need an excuse to get away from my office) and would love to grab a coffee, play a game or just chat about life.<\/p>\n

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Playful, inquisitive, real<\/p>\n

What do you like to do in your spare time?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b> I am a board game enthusiast and love to play new games!\u00a0 I also love to cook (usually) and go out to eat.\u00a0 I try to work it all off by playing soccer, basketball or *insert sport here*.\u00a0 I am also a diehard Oregon Duck football and basketball fan #WTD, Trail Blazer fanatic\u00a0 #ripcity, and an expert GM in Fantasy Football.\u00a0 Translation: I watch\/enjoy sports.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite movie?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>The Big Bang Theory<\/i>.\u00a0 Ok, I\u2019m cheating\u2026 but for real. If forced to choose a MOVIE, A Beautiful Mind<\/i>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite station\/meal in the SUB?\u00a0<\/i><\/b>TBD.\u00a0 Check with me at the end of Fall Semester and I will let you know.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite Diversions\/Opp drink?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Traditional, classy and simple: 12oz. Americano, no-room.<\/p>\n

If you could do anything over again in college, join any different society, take any new class\u2013would you? What would you do?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>I honestly would change very little except that I would have traveled more during college including doing a semester abroad.\u00a0 However, my best advice is to explore and be open-minded.\u00a0 College is all about finding your passion.\u00a0 Take classes that sound exciting!\u00a0 Be in groups that are engaging.\u00a0 Don\u2019t settle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey hey!\u00a0 My name is James Spaan and this is my first year as a Resident Director at Puget Sound!\u00a0\u00a0 I am excited to be serving the entire North Quad, which includes: Anderson\/Langdon (\u201cAL\u201d), Schiff and Harrington (\u201cScharrington\u201d), as well … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5","category-staff","category-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/reslife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}