for the next generation
One of the requirements for RAs is taking part in the RA selection process for the next round of candidates. Only a few minutes ago, I returned from nearly 5 hours of verbalized probing into student’s minds. The 5 hours had some breaks, too; we’re not machines, you understand. Well, some are.
In my view, the candidates my RA-partner and I spoke to varied over the range of awesome. One sought to forge new ground in the frontiers of the unexceptional. A few walked the Fence Of OK. One was entirely intractable with our prompting, leaving no nonverbal cues for us to get a clearer view. Two were stellar, and quite honestly were already better RAs than some I know of; in a few weeks, they’ll certainly receive letters of acceptance.
The experience reenergized my enthusiasm for the role, if only in the formal sense. “Oh, this is why I had liked the job” - something like that. But, at this point, I am really looking forward to the house and next academic year.
In fact, today I set up at appointment to thrust me into next year, by next week! On Monday, I will sign some papers giving my soul to the Vibrations and Acoustics Laboratory (VAL), an agreement likely binding until computers become obsolete and chimpanzee brain power is effectively harnessed.
But, until Monday, I have a weekend of excitement and exhaustion awaiting my consideration.