When I asked Katrina Bazzoli, the residence director for the women’s quads, what her favorite part about Union is, she responded almost without hesitation, “The community.”
If anybody knows Union’s community, it’s Bazzoli. From the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2019, Bazzoli served as the graduate assistant for the women’s basketball team. After that, she became an admissions counselor. She worked in that role for a year before becoming a RD. This semester is her first as a RD.
Because of these three very different roles, Bazzoli has the privilege of working with more groups of people than she would have otherwise.
“When I got here, I only talked to athletic people, but then going into admissions, I met a group of people that I had no clue existed. Then knowing those people got me connected to other people, and then going into ResLife, I’ve met so many different realms of people,” Bazzoli said.
However, it wasn’t always Bazzoli’s plan to still be at Union. Before becoming the graduate assistant at Union, she had played basketball for the University of West Georgia. When she took the two-year graduate assistant position at Union, she thought that she would finish those two years and go back to West Georgia to become involved in campus ministry.
In the summer of 2018, her plans changed when she started dating Easton Bazzoli, the graduate assistant for the men’s basketball team at the time. In August 2018, Easton became the assistant coach for men’s basketball. Bazzoli knew that by the time she finished as graduate assistant that she and Easton would be close to engagement so she decided to stay at Union.
When the position in admissions opened up, Bazzoli jumped at the chance. She loves getting to talk to people, so being an admissions counselor seemed to be a perfect fit.
In fact, she didn’t plan on leaving admissions. When the RD position came to her attention, she was very hesitant.
“I was like, ‘I want to make sure when I leave admissions it’s like a ministry job,’” Bazzoli said. “Then Easton was like, ‘You do realize that would be a ministry job.’”
Although the RD position is not necessarily labeled as a campus outreach position, in the short time that Bazzoli has been an RD, she has seen that it really is a job that she can minister through.
This job has also given her the opportunity to do all the things she loves. She gets to meet with people constantly and engage in meaningful conversations. She plays intramural softball with students. Recently, she even hammocked while meeting with one of her RAs. All of these things fit Bazzoli’s personality so well.
“I’m very relational, and I love to talk to people,” Bazzoli said.
In the short time that Bazzoli has been an RD, she has already made an impact on her RAs. Sydney Christian, an RA and junior special education major, thinks very highly of Bazzoli.
“When people ask you like, ‘Hey, can I pray for you?’ sometimes they don’t mean it or they’ll forget, but she remembers what’s going on in my life. We meet once a month, and she’ll remember and ask me about those specific things, so she’s just intentional about that,” Christian said.
Outside of being an RD, Bazzoli also has other ministries she’s a part of. She leads a Bible study for the women’s basketball team. She and her husband even started a small-group study with various people from around campus. She also has a blog that she witnesses through.
While Bazzoli has been pouring into others, she has also had people pouring into her. The Lord has placed people such as Mark Campbell, the head coach of the women’s basketball team, in Bazzoli’s life to help her in her walk with Christ, and she is extremely thankful for that. Through Campbell and others that she has been around, she has been able to see what godly leadership looks like.
“I’m continuing to learn that we are all image-bearers of God,” Bazzoli said. “It’s inspiring to see people live that out.”
The community at Union has truly been a huge blessing to Bazzoli. Within the community, she gained mentors and is able to meet people that feel like family. She is also able to have a job where she gets to do what she loves. It’s a dream come true.
“None of the things I do feel like work,” Bazzoli said. “But I think about it, and I’m like, ‘Wow! This is work.’”
Photo by Maddie Steele
