Name: Albert Oku
Major: Bioengineering
Hometown: Covina, Caliornia
Being a Resident Assistant is not an simple task. While it is loaded with benefits and is a fantastic and rewarding leadership experience, it is a difficult position to secure, and requires a lot of balance with academics and other school activities.
Meet Albert Oku, the RA of the 8th floor in the Hill’s Rieber Terrace. While working diligently to manage a large floor of students and conducting research on campus, Albert talks about his other involvements at UCLA and gives some advice to those dreaming of becoming an RA in the future!
What made you want to become an R.A.?
I was really inspired by my first RA my freshman year in Delta Terrace – by the way he helped to build a community for freshmen. I liked being able to see that community building, and the positive and negatives from different RAs. I wanted to do the same thing and help build community as a way to give back.
What was the process of becoming an R.A. like?
The application process was broken down into three parts. The paper application was where you would answer several questions, highlighting key aspects of your resume. If you make it through that, you move on to a group interview with a few other candidates, spend time with staff members and other RAs and go through various team building scenarios. Then comes the final itnerview process, where you basically go to different tables and are given different prompts to work through.
Do you have the time do be involved in anything else on campus?
I am part of the Samahong Pilipino Club, which is the which is the Filipino cultural organization on campus, but is also open to the general public on campus. I run the culture night during spring quarter, and I am part of their financial committee working with their financial coordinators dealing with logistics such as our education component and outreach component.
What is your all time favorite movie and why?
“Lawrence of Arabia.” It is a movie as an art form at its highest in my opinion. It has stunning cinematography and compelling, complex characters dealing with topics such as nationalism and mental health.
If you could have one super power over your residents as an RA, what would it be?
Telepathy. That way I could be the most empathetic person, and be able to choose the right actions that would help the most for them in their current state.
What do you want to do with your degree?
I want to work in government doing research in a lab. More recently what has caught my attention is working with the FDA in patent and drug device and testing.
If you could give advice to any underclassman who want to become an RA, what would that be?
Make sure you get sleep! But in addition to that, try to figure out how you can make a community and appeal to the residents, because if you can accomplish that, you might be able to make some lasting bonds and relationships, like I still have with my first RA.