A Donner Girl Through and Through

Leaders at this school are all campus celebrities. The RAs (resident assistants) and CAs (community assistants) in dorms are especially well known throughout campus. All residents living on campus have one, and have probably developed a close bond with at least one of them. But do we ever really know what they do and how they feel about their job? I interviewed Molly Walter, CA of Donner House to find out.
 
Molly loves the job because she “gets to know what’s going on in the whole building.” She also showed so much gratitude for her RA staff and Housefellow for always being there and being there for her when she needs help. As a CA Molly is responsible for leading staff meetings, tracking Donner’s programming and ensuring that everything is going well within the dorm. Molly’s dedication to her position was expressed when she said, “I also have a bigger, overreaching responsibilities like keeping up Donner traditions and building a strong dorm community for all of the residents.”
 
Donner as a whole is very important to Molly. She “lived in Donner as a freshman and fell in love with it.” This is a very common phenomenon for people who have lived in the building, including myself. Others may not understand how a building that looks like an indoor pool could be so special, but as Molly puts it, “Donner has this goofy, quirky, weird personality that creates this amazing community of people.” The sense of community and belonging is what makes Donner unique and a perfect place for freshmen to begin their college experience. Now, as a CA, Molly feels that the “opportunity to create that community for the freshmen this year is something that I am so excited for and proud of.” An interesting fun fact is that out of Molly’s four years at Carnegie Mellon she has lived on the same floor of Donner for three of them. She embodies everything that Donner is and loves the community more than anyone I know.
 
No job is without its challenges and the CA position is no exception. Molly’s biggest challenge has been transitioning to the CA position aftering working as a Donner RA for two years. She explained that, “as an RA, you have a CA to help you out but once you become a CA you are the authority.” Settling into this new position of authority and leadership was hard at first, but now she is confident in her position and doing an amazing job of being CA, if I do say so myself.
 

She has proven this to all of campus after successfully organizing the fifth annual POHLEES event on November 12. Molly explained that Donner’s POHLEES is “held as a memorial event for a Donner resident named Justin Chua who passed away and had the idea for a building-wide activities fair. The event this year included sand art, a chocolate fountain, henna, facemasks, massages from Massage Envy, Wii games, a waffle bar, karaoke, face painting, a nacho bar, mocktails, and arm wrestling. Molly excitedly told me the event went well and she’s “really proud of how it turned out!” She also gave lots of thanks and recognition to Donner’s Housefellow, RAs, mentors, house council and residents.
 
Despite the time commitment and responsibilities of being a CA, Molly is greatly involved on campus. She is a sister in Kappa Kappa Gamma, a Highland Ambassador, a Sexual Assault Advisor, and a committee member of MOSAIC. Molly is majoring in Cognitive Science and will be graduating next semester. When I asked her what her post graduation plans were she hesitated and then responded, “best case scenario is living in London with my friends this summer and starting a full-time job when I get back in the fall. But that’s a long shot.”
 
Molly is a dedicated CA who is full of passion for her house, community and residents. She is the perfect example of someone who loves her job so much that it positively affects everyone around her, especially her fellow “Donneroos.”