COLCHESTER -- Rachael Bowdish, daughter of Megan and Raymond Bowdish of Lisbon, was selected for the 2010-2011 academic year to be a Resident Assistant for the Office of Student Life at Saint Michael's College, a liberal arts residential Catholic college located in Burlington, Vt., one of the top 10 college towns in the country.

Bowdish, a junior sociology major, graduated from Lisbon Central School before coming to Saint Michael's.

Resident assistants are selected from the entire Saint Michael's undergraduate student population on the basis of faculty and staff recommendations.

They display excellent leadership abilities, maturity and likelihood of being good role models for their peers.

As resident assistants, they live in a campus residence hall and are readily available to help students. RAs (as they are called) oversee and provide guidance as needed or requested for 40 to 50 student residents of the hall.

They also organize educational programs, guest speakers, and peer guidance and alcohol education programs for residents of the hall.

Supervised by a resident director, the RA is a paraprofessional official of the college working closely with the residence-life office.

Resident assistants work to support and implement the objectives, policies, and regulations of the Saint Michael's College Office of Student Life.