If you are expecting your new resident directors to be boring, guess again. Paul Daigle and Nathaniel Stutzman, new RDs of Gough and Doane, respectively, bring enthusiasm and an ardor for student development to Eastern’s campus.
If you see Paul Daigle around, you will be sure to see him wearing a big grin on his face. It may be because he is the proud father of a five-week-old baby.
Maybe it is because of how thrilled he is with his resident assistant staff, or maybe it is because of how excited he is about the upcoming election.
Perhaps he is enthused about the changes he will be bringing to the Student Activities Board, as its new head. Or maybe it is just because he’s excited about the new Gough/Doane alliance, with which he plans to break Kea-Guffin’s supremacy.
Perhaps he has added a fourth tattoo or acquired a new comic book. Whatever it is, the excitement is contagious.
Sophomore Ian Hoffman, one of Gough’s RAs, is particularly excited to have Daigle on board.
“Paul Daigle is the new face of Gough,” Hoffman said. “He’s done just about everything you can think of, and now he’s at our very own Eastern.”
After graduating from Gordon College, Paul Daigle worked as an RD at an all-girls school – having five sisters prepared him well. Before coming to Eastern, he also served in a homeless community called Starlight Ministries.
RA Kaitlin Shadle met him there on a missions trip in 2003 and has been impressed ever since.
“He was supportive from the minute he met me,” Shadle said. “He offered to move me in, and he didn’t even know me. He’s a great fit for Gough.”
Doane’s new RD, Nathaniel Stutzman, also has a great deal of experience. Working as an area coordinator at Lebanon Valley College, Stutzman was the RD of three dorms and 500 students.
An EU graduate, Stutzman was a part of the varsity soccer, basketball and tennis teams in addition to the business club, SIFE, and the swing club. He was also an RA in Gallup for two years, on top of being his class president sophomore and junior years.
Stutzman’s résumé extends a good deal past college life. An actor, Stutzman has played roles in TV shows and movies such as Without A Trace, Hitch, and a football documentary where he played the quarterback.
When asked what he brings to his new position as RD and Assistant Dean of Students however, Stutzman points to his experience at LVC.
“I dealt with a gamut of different situations from suicide attempts, rape situations and trips to the ER,” Stutzman said. “While hopefully that won’t be needed, I feel like I’m crisis-prepared.”
Daryl Hawkin’s opinion of his new RD’s?
“I like them,” he said, with a grin.