OC Mag 01-22

RELATIONSHIPS |
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ERIC SANDBULTE
Resident Directors
serve
Students
As Hospers Hall resident director at
Northwestern College, Michael Simmelink lives
in an apartment at the dorm. Being accessible
to students at all hours of the day is an
important aspect of the job.
Job a unique way to
minister and serve
College comes with a whole set of
challenges: the struggle of a new
environment away from home,
trying to forge your own identity while
meeting academic goals and the stress of
becoming an adult.
But at Northwestern College, a team
of adults are available around the clock
to assist and guide the college’s students
who live on campus. That job goes to the
resident directors, who live in the dorms.
Michael Simmelink has been the resident
director of Hospers Hall, which has
fewer than 100 students, since 2017.
He had applied for the job while working
construction after graduating from
Northwestern College in 2014, knowing
that he would regret not at least trying to
get the job. Getting the position has been
a dream come true.
“To be an RD, you have to be OK that
maybe not everyone fully understands
the work,” he said. “The joke is that
even our parents don’t get what we do;
they’re just happy we have jobs. It takes
elements of what a youth pastor would
34 OC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022