Profile - Kathy Benzaquin and the Residential Life Program

 first published in 1983 in the campus and NCSSM community newsletter -- Dialogues.

Kathy Benzaquin is proud of the Residential Life Program at NCSSM and with reason. The system she and her staff have evolved has become a model for those establishing public residential schools in other states. It was only three years ago that Kathy was asked to create a program that would enhance a rigorous academic curriculum by making young high school students feel at home as well as by providing a broad spectrum of co-curricular activities. In response she developed a strong, flexible, accountable program manned by a dedicated staff of Residential Advisors (RAs). 

Kathy attributes success to her policy of selecting staff members whose abilities and interests are tailored to program needs. RAs, whose primary responsibility is to care for and support students, also organize and oversee traditional high school activities — social, recreational, and service. Matching the task to a staff member's talent and interest has made the 24- hour a day, 7-days a week, entry level job attractive to excellent candidates, rewarding for students, and has strengthened every facet of the Residential Life Program.

Support of her staff, particularly professionally, is a priority for Kathy. Her success in training may be measured by job offers RAs receive from other residential schools and by their loyalty to NCSSM. Kathy is philosophical when an offer does lure someone away and they leave with regret — it means she is accomplishing one of her purposes. 

For most students entering NCSSM, Resident Advisors are an unknown quantity, but not for long. The companionship and leadership of a caring adult means a great deal to these young people away from home, and their appreciation is evident. A close association between students and staff is beneficial in many ways, including reducing resentment if discipline is necessary. 

Other Residential Life policies also are designed to make discipline a more positive learning experience. One is to include students in the decision-making process; a second is to establish rules based on a specific consequence for a specific cause. Predictable judgments seem easier to take. 

Another policy that is working well is one requiring students to make a study or social contract with RAs if their grades fall. The staff is especially pleased because some students in good academic standing have voluntarily made contracts. 

For the future Kathy has three wishes — to find more financial support for her staff, to find enough time in the NCSSM schedule so that her staff can make better use of their skills in leading leisure time activities, and to maintain the level of excitement that characterizes the Residential Life Program today.

[Dialogues Volume 3, Number 2, March 1983; Dialogues; NCSSM Digital Collection]

Pranks: A Relived Nightmare!!

 by Kathleen Benzaquin (founding Head of Residential Life)

Being the person in charge of discipline, at least before it got sent up to Dean Collins, was truly a job I did not relish.  I appreciated most of the pranks for their creativity and the need to blow off some steam.  Not easy living 24/7 in what was then a high visibility school. Always reporters and distinguished visitors around with the pressure to behave and act appropriately.  I felt as much on display as the students felt some days.  But we were "pioneers" at every level hoping to make this crazy new idea a real success.  It seemed worth the risk, and pranks were just a natural part of our growing pains.

The only prank I ever felt really angry about was when some juniors during the 1981-82 year brought a bow and arrows on campus and were shooting them from their dorm room into an area under construction.  The possibility of something tragic happening was so great; you can see from other entries how often students went into off-limits areas, that it really freaked me out.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  But that "prank" was not a funny one by any means.

 I enjoy reading the student perspectives on this and the other topics.  Being at NCSSM and part of the original team is the highlight of my career.   Good times, crazy times!

Why come to NCSSM? (Prompt #2)

By Kathleen Benzaquin

As a staff person my perspective may differ a bit from that first class of students but I daresay we shared similar reasons for doing so.  I was struck by the uniqueness of such a public school; the creative reasons for it were unlike any place I had seen or been to before. My M.O. has always been to find a situation that was the first of its kind or gave me the opportunity to start something where I saw a need. This school, only a dream still, was perfect. It involved creativity, risk and making things happen.  It would require students, faculty and staff to go outside their comfort zones, to make a change from known to unknown and to trust that this educational and emotional risk would pay off.  My role was to create the residential, work and community service programs as well as the student activities program all so similar to offerings on a college campus.  This was suited to my professional background and seemed to blend my skills so well.  I was excited for this opportunity but even more so I couldn't wait to meet the students, the "Pioneers" as we called them!

Differences (Prompt #1)

By Kathleen Benzaquin

I remember coming to North Carolina in 1977 after a terrible blizzard in New York State where I was working. I was struck by the vestiges of segregation that I faced so different from what I knew from a pretty integrated society up north.  My husband held a door open for a Black woman who appeared shocked by this act of kindness, what we took for granted was not so easily seen in my new state.  This was brought home on my interview with NCSSM's Mike Collins before the school opened.  During my tour of the facilities we met up with the security guard who worked for the hospital for many years. He spoke of a ghost that haunted the place who he swore he had seen and heard. It was a white male searching for his wife who had fallen ill. However, as she was Black and the hospitals were segregated, she was taken to the Black one where she died.  He roamed the halls looking for her.  A far fetched story? Perhaps but one rooted in the history of the times.