Adele Zitzman, Maclellan/Rymer’s new resident director, attributes much of who she is to her parents. The respect they gained through their leadership in the small western Connecticut homeschool community made a direct impact in her life and the lives of her three older siblings.
These leadership qualities enabled Zitzman to earn a B.A. in Bible and Counseling at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. While at Moody, Zitzman became involved in residence life, first as an RA and later as an Administrative Assistant. The combination of these jobs gave her a better understanding of the inner workings of residence life, and sparked her love for working with students.
Covenant’s class of 2020 has actually been here a tad longer than Zitzman. Collegiate residence life was Zitzman’s dream, but something she expected to come later when she was older. If asked six months ago where she would be this school year, she would have expected to still be living in Washington D.C., working in an administrative position at a local church.
“God threw me off course with this one. I ended up here through a really quick process,” Ziztman said. A quick process, indeed. She was notified of the position at Covenant thanks to connections with fellow Moody alumni Hannah Bloomquist and Neely Goree, and accepted the job only twenty days later.
The most effective fulfillment of her RD duties so far has simply been building relationships with students in Mac. Because Zitzman is new to her position, she is choosing to step back and observe the community before trying to make significant changes. She wants to be someone who responds thoughtfully to challenges (positive or negative) rather than someone who reacts quickly to them.
This means that a lot of time on her part being spent listening and waiting. Although this approach doesn’t produce immediate results, Zitzman believes that individual relationships are more effective long-term, and she is truly enjoying the opportunity to invest in individual students.
The other side of her position is a lot of administrative work, which she enjoys just as much as the relational side.
Zitzman loves Mac for its understanding of the importance of education and believes, if she had attended Covenant as an undergraduate, Mac would have suited her best. Although new to Chattanooga, she has already found some favorite go-to spots down the mountain, Mean Mug Coffeehouse being her number one recommendation, specifically the blueberry scones. Zitzman can be found attending St. Elmo Presbyterian on Sunday mornings, baking bread, and making music on pretty much any string instrument, or her new keyboard in her free time.