No one is fully prepared for the real world after college.

With this in mind, Westside apartment RAs met the needs of many upperclassmen preparing to seek internships or jobs, by hosting Real World Week, sessions in proper etiquette, business attire and professional résumé-building.

“We were really trying to meet that need of providing professional skills in how to write a résumé, eat with good etiquette at a business dinner and how to dress professionally,” said Melissa “Missy” Marquez, a junior and a Babcock RA at Cornerstone.

“It was a team effort from our staffs at Babcock and Crawford working together,” said Marquez, who was in charge of contacting outside assistance for the event.

She explained that the event was a combination of her idea for a dinner and Justin Kennedy’s idea for a big end-of-the-year event.

“We were in a staff meeting, and we really felt like our program was stagnant and that we were not getting the numbers of participation that we wanted,” said Kennedy, a senior and an RA of Crawford Hall.

“We thought, why not instead of doing a whole bunch of small events, do one big event. We came up with the idea of having a Westside and upperclassman etiquette dinner that would be hosted by Westside,” said Kennedy, who was placed in charge of coordinating with food service for the event.

The etiquette dinner was led by Molly Heemstra, Career Services specialist at Cornerstone University. Heemstra showed students how to place silverware, and how to eat soups, pasta and meat properly.

“Etiquette does say something of who you are, your mannerisms and the way that you hold yourself, whether in a professional or non-professional field,” Heemstra said.

She also said that through proper etiquette, students will reflect and represent themselves, along with Cornerstone University.

“I think it prepared us well, and we were reminded to maintain  proper etiquette in little areas even down to how you hold your fork,” said Hope Collins, a senior who attended the etiquette dinner during Real World week. “It made us a little more aware of the little things that could be perceived as rude to somebody, especially when you are trying to make a good impression.”

One of the etiquette rules that Collins found interesting was if one has to spit something out, one places it back on their fork instead of in their napkin.

“Your food goes out the way it came in,” Collins said, quoting Heemstra’s instructions from the dinner.

Real World week also held a business professional fashion show directed by Laurie Burgess that demonstrated how to dress and act professionally. Later, another activity was held with Heemstra where she taught students how to construct a résumé and offered tips for job- and internship-hunting.

Marquez said that through this experience, the RAs hope that students can become “skilled in areas that would help them in an interview, a job and better prepare them to live outside of college.”