The purpose of the Residential Life Program at Randolph-Macon Academy is to educationally and socially prepare students for college life and beyond. As a boarding school, we have chosen to make the residential life program an extension of the academic environment.
The caring and responsible adults who supervise the boarding school environment include three R-MA alumni, two ordained ministers, a former social worker, and four athletic coaches. Between all of our dorm supervisors, a total of seven foreign languages are spoken: French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hebrew and Greek. These professionals seek to establish positive relationships with their respective cadets, in the process becoming the “R-MA Dad” or “R-MA Mom” to dozens of students each year.
Through our Big Brother, Big Sister and Cadre Leadership programs, our residential life curriculum and our experienced Cadet Life Supervisors (CLSs), R-MA’s Residential Life Program helps cadets develop into responsible members of the R-MA and the local communities, and prepares them for future challenges in life, to include college.
Cadets participate in a weekly Residential Life Curriculum focusing on life, civil communication and positive choice-making skills. By engaging our cadets in civil dialogue over age-appropriate matters, they develop a true sense of identity, a desire and need to self-govern, and leadership skills, all of which help cultivate their overall potential into well-rounded individuals.
In addition to our Cadet Manual, Air Force JROTC Aerospace Leadership Resources, and a book entitled Success for Teens by The Success Foundation, we use a small-group style format in which cadet leaders take a section of the book at a time and use their own current event information to engage their fellow cadets in dialogue about pertinent topics of joint interest. This initiative has been well-received by our cadet corps.