50 RA Bulletin Board Ideas for College Dorms

Kayla Rutledge

July 24, 2018

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

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.
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.
InstagRAm - Create a bulletin board that looks like a collection of Instagram photos and includes pictures and captions of your hobbies, friends and majors.
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.
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.
Nice To Meet Chew - Create a gumball machine on your bulletin board and put facts and pictures about yourself on the different gumballs.
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.
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."
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.

Related Articles

50 Fun College Party Ideas

College Orientation Activities and Ideas

“I just love using SignUpGenius. It works so well, especially with the ability to create reports. You guys really know how to put this kind of support site together because I have been looking for a very user-friendly and 'do all' volunteer-hours tracking system. After checking and trying to use eight different ones, yours is definitely the top! The Knights of Columbus Council and our parish are quite impressed with your system! Thanks so much for making my life a lot easier! ”

Deb Ramirez

Recent Resource Articles

fundraising-planning-on-chalkboard

Fundraising Tips to Run a Successful Campaign

fundraising-ideas-groups-causes-hub

Fundraising Ideas for Every Group, Cause, and Occasion

scanning-qr-code-ticket

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Black History Month - Create a timeline of important black history moments at your school or university to help educate your residents.
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.
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.