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50 RA Bulletin Board Ideas for College Dorms

Part of being an RA means making your residence hall feel as much like home as possible for your residents. Bulletin boards can be a great way to both disseminate information and brighten up your hallways. Check out these 50 ideas for every situation!

Introducing Yourself

  1. What's Up? - Cut out or draw the house from the movie Up and write facts about yourself on the balloons to help your residents get to know you. You can even put a cutout picture of yourself in the window of the house.
  2. Where Am I? - To help your residents know where to find you, draw (or print) a large map of the campus with highlighted locations that you frequent, such as the library and your dorm. When you leave the dorm, move a cutout picture of yourself to that location so your residents can come hang out.
  3. InstagRAm - Create a bulletin board that looks like a collection of Instagram photos and includes pictures and captions of your hobbies, friends and majors.
  4. Knock on My Door - Create a bulletin board with multi-colored paper "doors" that open. Your residents can open the flap to reveal fun facts about you! Give it a "Welcome to Monstropolis" twist by creating the doors to look like the ones from Monsters, Inc.
  5. The One Where You Meet Your RA - If you love the TV show Friends, create a board about yourself in the style of the show.
  6. Nice To Meet Chew - Create a gumball machine on your bulletin board and put facts and pictures about yourself on the different gumballs.
  7. Meet Your Prefect - Make this Harry Potter-themed board by covering a bulletin board with paper in your Hogwarts house colors, along with pictures and facts about yourself.
  8. You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me - Decorate your board like the genie in the animated Disney movie Aladdin. You can even put "wishes" that you grant as an RA, like "I wish someone would talk to me when I am struggling" or "I wish I had someone to call when I get locked out."
  9. Bloom Where You're Planted - Use tissue paper to create a fake bouquet and write interesting facts about yourself on all the petals and leaves.
  10. Thanks for Bee-ing Here - Cut out bees and hexagons to decorate your board like a hive. Write information about yourself on the different pieces and welcome your residents to your floor. 

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Fostering Community

  1. Home is Where the Heart Is - Cut out a giant map of the United States and have your residents draw a heart on their hometown. If your university has a lot of international students, you can even use a map of the world.
  2. My College Bucket List - Create a blank list for your residents to write things they want to accomplish in their college career! You can even add a few ideas to get them started that are traditions at your university.
  3. Our Puzzle - Draw a large paper puzzle and write your residents' names on each piece of the puzzle to show how each resident is important. Encourage your residents to decorate their puzzle pieces with their hobbies and interests.
  4. Don't Be Shady, Make Friends - Decorate this board with large paper sunglasses. Then, write information about community events or suggestions of events that your residents can attend with you so they can make new friends.
  5. Would You Rather - Split your board in half between two sides of a "would you rather" question that you swap out every week. Then, attach clothespins with your residents names on them to the board so they can place their clothespin on the side they agree with. Genius Tip: Stumped on questions? Check out these 40 would you rather questions for college students.
  6. Roommates Are Friends, Not Food - Paste the characters from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo onto your bulletin board, along with tips for residents about how to get along with their roommates.
  7. Get Connected - Create a board with blank columns for different social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) so your residents can write their social media handles and connect with each other.
  8. What Do You Love? - Encourage residents to write their hobbies and interests on a bulletin board to connect them with other students who have similar interests.
  9. Let's Taco Bout Conflict - Create a bulletin board with tips for your residents on dealing with roommate conflict in a healthy way, along with your protocol for filing roommate complaints.
  10. Our Playlist - Create a blank "playlist" in the style of Spotify or iTunes for your residents to fill in their favorite songs and discover others with the same music taste.
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Informative Boards

  1. Who You Gonna Call - Create a Ghostbusters-themed board with the numbers of your RAs and dorm staff so students know what numbers to call if they get locked out or have an emergency.
  2. 7 Wonders of ____ - Choose seven iconic restaurants, events or traditions around your college campus to display on a bulletin board, along with directions, to help your residents familiarize themselves with their new city.
  3. Start Off on the Right Foot - Make a bulletin board that looks like a Twister game, and write helpful tips about college on each of the dots.
  4. Who's Racing Tonight? - Assign your RAs and dorm staff Mario Kart characters and switch out the icons on a bulletin board "race track" depending on who is on duty so your residents know who to contact.
  5. Bye, Bye, Bye - Let the members of *NSYNC give your residents all their end-of-year move out information in a funny and cute way.
  6. Don't Get Caught Without Housing - Use yarn to craft a large spider web on your bulletin board. Within the web, put up information on how your residents can register for housing for the next school year.
  7. I Scream, You Scream, We Write You Up - Use an ice cream-themed board to post information for your residents about mandatory quiet hours and the rules that govern your dorm building. This board works well during exam periods, when quiet hours may be stricter.
  8. Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica - Using quotes and printed photos from The Office, encourage your residents to pursue any career path (from bears to beets). Share information about your university's career services department and different ways residents can take advantage of resume workshops, interview coaching and more.
  9. It's Almost Time to Pac, Man - Create a Pac-Man board with tips and tricks about the move out process for your residents.
  10. Think Before You Drink - Staple up large paper cutouts of red Solo cups to create a board with tips on responsible drinking and campus emergency numbers that will help your residents stay safe. 

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Holiday Boards

  1. Spread Some Love - Create a board with folders of blank Valentine's Day cards and markers so your residents can deliver homemade valentines to each other.
  2. I'm Thankful For - Decorate a bulletin board with cut-out leaves and have your residents write things they are thankful for on each leaf.
  3. Herstory Month - Create a calendar for Women's History Month and feature a new woman each day. Bonus points if you feature women who are connected to your university's history.
  4. You're BOO-tiful - Cut out paper ghosts and pumpkins in October for a Halloween-themed board and write witty, encouraging notes to your residents — along with information about campus counseling services and other resources for anyone feeling depressed, anxious or a low sense of self-worth.
  5. Don't Let Your Grades Get Spooky - This board is perfect for Halloween! Decorate your board with ghosts and skeletons, along with tips to avoid the mid-semester slump.
  6. What's On Your Plate? - Around Thanksgiving, create a large plate sectioned off into different ways that students can spend their time leading up to exams. Encourage a "balanced meal" of study, rest, exercise, social time, etc.
  7. Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice - Decorate your board with fake pumpkin spiced lattes and have a space where residents can write their favorite things about fall.
  8. Loves Me, Loves Me Not - Around Valentine's Day, create a large flower with two colors of petals. On the "loves me not" petals, put characteristics of unhealthy relationships, and on the "loves me" petals, put characteristics of healthy relationships.
  9. Black History Month - Create a timeline of important black history moments at your school or university to help educate your residents.
  10. In October, We Wear Pink - Use this Mean Girls quote to create a pink board for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You can include health information as well as fundraisers or events around your school that students can participate in.
  11. Happy Holidays - Create a fake fireplace and hang cheap, small stockings on it with your residents' names. You can put candy, reminders or little notes in each student's stocking to cheer them up during finals.

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General Tip Boards

  1. APPly Yourself - Create a fake smartphone with helpful apps that all college students need to download, such as bus system apps, apps with maps of your university and studying or meditation apps. Add little descriptions of the apps so residents know what they help with.
  2. My Favorite Studying Spot - Create a blank board where students can write their favorite places to study around finals season. You never know, you might find a new spot to study!
  3. Finals Are In-Tents - Write tips for studying during finals on top of a scene of a campsite.
  4. Off to a Fresh Start - Cut construction paper to look like pieces of fruit and write tips on them about how your residents can have a successful start to the semester.
  5. We Were On a Break - Use this iconic line from the TV show Friends to put up information about transitioning into a new semester.
  6. It's Raining Finals - Create an umbrella and paper raindrops and write tips for your students about how to survive finals season.
  7. Donut Stress - Cut out paper donuts with tips for students on how to manage a busy schedule.
  8. Who Needs Sleep? - Create a board with stars, moon and an owl answering the question with "YOU." Write statistics and facts that show your students the importance of sleep to their health and grades.
  9. Stay Sharp - Print and cut out cartoon cacti and write tips for students about how to prepare for an important test or exam.
With these genius ideas, your floor will be brightened up in no time! 

Kayla Rutledge is a college student who spends most of her time writing, singing for her church and eating quesadillas.

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