Meet Nahid Widaatalla. A native of Ontario, Nahid is in her third year here at McGill and is majoring in Anatomy and Cell Biology, with a minor in International Development. Alongside her studies, Nahid is also a floor fellow at RVC, living alongside first-year students in residence and supporting them in their first year away from home. For Nahid, being a floor fellow is about making sure that everyone living in residence is able to express their own identity in a safe and positive environment, free from judgment or harm.
Stephanie Sim for HC McGill (HC McGill): What does the role of a floor fellow entail?
Nahid Widaatalla (NW): Being a floor fellow involves various elements, but the main aspects of the job are acting as a support/resource for first-year students living in McGill residences. Floor fellows live in residence with students and help their transition into the first year, and are also dedicated to community building within rez. Some of the core responsibilities are facilitating the Rez/Race Project, a series of anti-oppressive workshops centered around: respect in rez, consent, sexual violence, and marginalized identities. Floor fellows also perform duty, which typically happens every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. We are on-call for a specific set of hours and respond to any calls on the duty phone/check in with students and offer support – in whatever form that may be. Floor fellows also work in a team comprised of other floor fellows and the Residence Life Manager of the building to provide support to each other and students, as well as to promote the safety and well being of residents.
HC McGill: What do floor fellows stand for?
NW: The main thing floor fellows stand for is making rez a fun, safe, and positive experience for students by promoting respect, anti-oppressive practice, and harm reduction through role modelling these values.
HC McGill: What was the process of becoming a floor fellow?
NW: Usually, there is an application and interview process that happens around mid-January. There is a written application that is typically followed by two rounds of interviews, one that is a broad carousel interview, and another that is with the selection committee for each specific building.
HC McGill: Why did you decide to become a floor fellow?
NW: I think the main reason I wanted to become a floor fellow is because of my first-year experience; coming from a small town, where my family and I were some of the only people of colour, I hadn’t been exposed to a lot of the anti-oppressive practice that is so integral to the role of a floor fellow. I remember doing Race Project for the first time and being so overcome with emotion because I was learning all this terminology for the first time, that described how I’d felt my whole life as a Black/Arab Muslim woman. I felt like the pieces of my identity were finally coming together, and I felt safe and respected in rez – the floor fellows in my building were a big part of making me feel this way by role modelling the values they stood for. I decided to apply because I wanted to do the same thing; I wanted to make students feel safe and heard, and I wanted to support future students who may have similar experiences to mine.
HC McGill: What impact do you think floor fellows have on first years in rez?
NW: The impact a floor fellow has on someone’s first-year experience varies between people, but I think the main thing is that the floor fellows are a very reachable form of support – they live on your floor, they are also McGill students, and they know what it’s like to navigate the first year. They aren’t professionally trained in support work, but sometimes having a floor fellow can be a more valuable and accessible support than certain institutional resources.
HC McGill: What are the best parts of being a floor fellow?
NW: For me, the best part about being a floor fellow are the relationships you get to build with your students and your team. It’s so amazing to see how much growth your students undergo throughout the year, and I love being a part of their first-year journey. I’ve formed some lifelong relationships with my teammates – people who I can trust and go to for support.
HC McGill: Why should other people become floor fellows? What advice do you have for future floor fellows?
NW: I think floor fellows are such an important part of the rez experience, and it’s so important that their presence is acknowledged and maintained in McGill residences. There are so many aspects of our job that have been challenged recently, specifically with the ratification of our collective agreement, and it’s important that we continue to highlight the ways that a floor fellow can be crucial to a first year’s experience! To any future floor fellows, I would say that there is no ‘right’ way to be a floor fellow. You don’t have to be the most knowledgeable person about anti-oppression and harm reduction. Doing this job for the second year in a row, there is still so much I’m learning about supporting others and myself, and that’s okay!
Images obtained from the interviewee.