Meet the Hall Director: Straz Tower
Learn about Aaron McCoy, former hall minister now leading Straz
“Meet the Hall Directors” is a series through Marquette’s Office of Residence Life that connects the campus with the residence hall directors. Follow @mureslife on Twitter and Instagram to see more.
Meet Aaron McCoy
Aaron is technically in his third year here at Marquette, but is returning to Marquette after a year-long grad program at UCLA. Aaron has a large, genuine smile and is ready to chat.
Give me a brief life path of where you started up to here.
I was an RA in my undergrad for 3 years at Cal Poly, where I majored in sociology and journalism. I wanted to just help people but didn’t know how to. I applied to every service organization post-grad and went with Teach for America. I moved to New York for Teach for America and ended up living there for third years. I did some teaching and some odd jobs. I was trying to find what to do next, and while I liked teaching fifth grade I wanted to teach older students. I converted to Catholicism at that time and wanted to learn more, and that led me here (to Marquette). I worked in campus ministry and as a hall minister in O’Donnell Hall, and I liked that and liked the parts of an RA. I then decided on student affairs and went back home to UCLA for a year-long grad program. I was an assistant hall director there and now I’m back at Marquette as a hall director.
Why this field of student affairs? What brought you to it?
My joke answer is I couldn’t ever do anything corporate, but it’s actually kind of true. I always told myself from the age of 10 that I would never have a job where I was only sitting at a desk. I never wanted to be in a place where I was working for somebody without having a meaning. I worked for Apple for awhile and always felt like I was selling people stuff they didn’t need. It felt like sucking my soul out. Student affairs gives me the chance to work with people at a time where they need help. I know the value of mentorship and I’ve had those people who have really helped me down this path, but I also didn’t have those people and that motivates me. I was high functioning enough where I slipped through the cracks in college. I spent a lot of time in college not knowing where to go. I have a keen sense of those people on the margins, not just minorities although I do care a lot about them, but also those ones where nobody is paying attention to them because they’re not causing trouble or in a leadership position.
What do you think the role of res life is on a college campus (besides the obvious of housing students)?
Ideally, it is a place where people can not only have community but also explore themselves. College in general is a time where you should be asking a lot of questions. All the things you’ve been taught your entire life you should be able to challenge those things. Res life should provide opportunities to challenge, support and push. There’s not a lot of skills you learn in the classroom for that. Res life should provide a model to do that and explicit opportunities to learn and have the chance to be successful moving forward. We fall short sometimes, but I think res life is adaptable to the needs of students. We’re here to serve students.
I know the value of mentorship and I’ve had those people who have really helped me down this path, but I also didn’t have those people and that motivates me.
Why a hall director?
When I was an RA I did not want to do a third year, but my mom said, “If you want to live and have money you have to do it.” I did it to have a place to live, and during that time my hall director Kyle K left mid-year and told me I should be a hall director at some point. I thought that was crazy. He said I was really good at connecting with people and that’s hard to teach. With the new hall director, I was able to guide and teach and that rejuvenated my passion for RA. This job gives me the chance to really know students, especially those overlooked. I’m able to talk to and communicate with students and provide the things they think they need to be successful. My life trajectory is being called to serve others; it’s not about money for me it’s about serving.
What kind of impact do you hope to make in this role?
I’ll know I’ve made a difference if folks across the board feel heard. We often get confused about what’s hard about our jobs. We need to figure out what our residents want, what they need, and then give it to them. What we need to do is simple, but acting it out is hard. Acknowledging that when we say we’re here for all students, all means all. It’s finding ways to support folks. When we say, “We are Marquette,” I think about students that hear that but don’t feel that. Helping students to feel that is how I will know my work is making an impact.
What excites you the most about this role?
I love working with my staff team- they’re great. Our personalities perfectly match each other and that’s really exciting to me. I also love working with living learning communities because they’re rallied around a purpose here (at Straz). We have the honors floor passionate about academics, the Dorothy Day floor passionate about social justice, and the Spanish floor passionate about learning more about heritage and culture. Then there’s learning how to serve sophomores and give them the things they need to be continually successful. I’m excited to have a team in tune with all of those communities.
What scares you the most about this role?
There’s just a lot we have to know. I’m a human and I’m new; I don’t make attempts to say I know everything. I really rely on people to help me learn the things I need to learn, but it’s challenging to not know everything when you feel like you need to. I’m hoping people are kind as I learn.
Acknowledging that when we say we’re here for all students, all means all.
Why Marquette?
This place is special. Marquette is special and Milwaukee is special. I fell in love with this city. I’ve lived in LA and New York, but there’s something to say about a city where you can wrap your hands around it and make an impact in the city. The people who live here care a lot about making an impact. It has its issues, but there are people who care about trying to fix it. I like being around that energy and being a part of it, and Marquette is dropped right into it. I’m passionate about my faith and living that out, and I see that here and in the lives of students. Students are alive here and that drew me back halfway across the country.
Student affairs gives me the chance to work with people at a time where they need help.
Anything else you’d like the MU community to know about you?
One thing for people just to know, I think a lot of times we feel we have to adhere to certain rules or follow policies or do things just because so and so told us to. Once we get to college, that is really our opportunity to challenge everything, not in the sense of we try to destroy everything, but we combat that and challenge that with our questions. A college is intended to be a place we ask questions and no one is above questions. One thing I’m passionate about is asking questions and challenging things. Marquette is strong enough to take questions; the catholic church is strong enough to take questions. We need questions to keep us alive and vital. Don’t forget the people who are just outside of your line of sight. We talk about the Marquette bubble and I hate that because it presupposes we have a bubble. To say we have a bubble denies the existence of the community around us and ignores them (community members). If we try to insulate ourselves, we miss out; we can’t forget the people we want to forget.
