Living where they work II: Getting to know Terrence Jones

By Gaby Audrey

In the last issue of the Horizon Emily Kauffman and Lorren Oesch talked about their role as Resident Directors (RDs) on our campus. In this issue we will introduce another face in the student life department: Terrence Jones, the men’s RD.

Whether it is in cafeteria or chapel, the halls of Bontrager Center or in the mods themselves, if you see Terrence Jones, you will see him talking to students. After all, the most enjoyable thing about being a RD, Jones says, is being able to interact with students on a day to day basis, learning their life stories.

“I enjoy building relationships with people and sharing my story and hearing their stories, so that we can offer each other a different aspect of life,” Jones said.

And he also offers support. When students are having problems, he is there to hold them up. He says he will try his best to fill the role students need him to fill.

But that does not apply only to students. Jones also offers a support system to his colleagues, Lorren Oesch and Emily Kauffman.

“Not only is he approachable, he’s consistently checking in with me, making sure I’m doing okay, and if I’m not doing okay he comes to me and gives me space to vent, cry, etc. whatever I need to do to feel heard,” she said.

But Kauffman’s not his only fan.

“I don’t know a student on this campus who doesn’t know and love Terrence.”

And when it comes to medical assistance or emergencies, he loves to provide his help in any way he can. For fire drills, “It’s just about just following the process that I was trained on before school started,” Jones said.

Like the women RDs, he stays busy on campus.

“I am a sponsor for the ping pong club with Omar Reyes,” he said.

Jones loves sports and he shows his support by going to games no matter what sport it is. He enjoys watching, and he also plays basketball.

When he was considering the RD position, he liked what Hesston had to offer.

“The one thing that stood out to me was how Hesston is centered around the aspect of community and diversity,” Jones said.

Coming from Little Rock, Arkansas, Jones says fitting in at Hesston isn’t hard, but managing the workload is. With him being the only full-time male RD on campus, his workload is double the amount of what he is supposed to have. But he has Oesch and Kauffman to help him.

“Working with Terrence is a dream, a dream I didn’t know I had, but is continuing to come true with every day I get to learn and interact with him,” Kauffman said.

They make a good team. And that team’s biggest achievement?

“Seeing one another as working together for the same purpose versus working against each other because we are all very different people,” she said. “Because we are living and working with one another in the same place, it’s important that we don’t shy away from conflict rather allow it to bring us together.”