Spreading the Luv
pre at... ented s
a IRHA Newsletter feb. 2008
Inside you’ll find...
e-board updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OTM programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - 4 articles! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - 7 WBM reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - 10
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Great IRHA programs
Central Campus Redbird Square Change Wars Illinois State University, Written by Amy Vito
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nominated program OTMS from december
After the discussion that Illinois State’s Vice President of The Association of Residence Halls had with all of the area governments, Central Campus Residential Government(CCRG) decided to help her and her cause. The Vice President is a member of Illinois State’s Traditions committee and they were trying to raise money to create a “Redbird Square” to increase tradition at our school. The project was expected to cost ten thousand dollars or so, and CCRG wanted to do what they could to help fundraise. At the executive board meetings following this discussion, CCRG decided to put on an area wide coin war in order to raise money. In Central Campus, there are approximately 840 students, the smallest area government at Illinois State. Regardless, we figured a coin war would be a fun way to get residents to help their campus as well as win a yummy prize. Of course there has to be a prize! After much thought, the first thing that came to mind was pizza. All college students love pizza! After calling around Bloomington Normal for prices, and submitting a funding request to ARH, we finally had our order set; 40 large pizzas for the winning residence hall. To our delight, the coin war started off very strong. Residents were seen pouring their extra change into the jars provided at the front desks of each resident hall. Central Campus is comprised of two residence halls, Walker and Dunn Barton. In order to bring the competitive nature out of the residents, we added the prize of a free pizza party to the mix as well as a point system. Every penny was worth positive points, and every silver coin was worth negative points. At the end of the day, the president, myself, and the vice president, Shannon Kemp, would collect the jars and count up the points for every day. By the time the silver was subtracted from the points that the pennies made, each residence hall was neck and neck for the entire week. The executive board sent out messages of encouragement in order to keep residents active throughout the entire week of the coin war. After Wednesday night, Walker and Dunn Barton halls were only separated by twenty-one points. To our delight, Central Campus raised $49.84 in pennies and other loose change throughout the entire week of the war. We had an extremely high participation rate, as each resident was aware the war was going on. At the beginning of the following week, the winning residence hall, Walker Hall, was awarded with an entirely free pizza party. The night of the pizza party attracted many residents, some aware of it, others not. It was a great way to promote CCRG and remind residents what we are here to do for them. Within an hour, over twenty pizzas were given away by just giving one slice per resident. CCRG and its executive board worked very hard to promote this program and try to find a way to help Illinois State’s Tradition Committee by putting on an area wide coin war. While fifty dollars does not seem like a lot of money, it was all loose change that residents donated for this worthy cause. Hopefully our next fundraiser will be just as exciting as this one!
No RA position? No problem!!!
By: Nicole Mette Eastern Illinois University
It’s about that time of year when RA staff selection is happening on college campuses. Nervous candidates can be seen loitering around the mailboxes in local residence halls. Additionally, the number of student volunteers and leaders seems to skyrocket in that last “hire me! hire me!” plea. Even though these and many other symptoms are not bad, they can tend to over-stress and emotionallyscar possible RA candidates. So what do you tell your friend/roommate/neighbor/ Exec Board Member who received a letter that did NOT include the response they wanted? A) Always let people feel the way they feel. Everyone’s entitled to their emotions (it’s one of the few things people have autonomy over). So just allowing them to show their emotions in whatever way they see fit (hopefully not harmful to themselves or others) is very helpful. B) Listen! Think of any time you’ve been really bummed- just having that friend to be there is comforting. You don’t need to say cliches like “I know what you’re going through” or “Everything happens for a reason” (oftentimes they can make the situation worse), even just staying silent can be beneficial. C) Talk when appropriate. Some people may read silence as a confirmation that they don’t have what it takes to be a great leader. So if appropriate, just assure the candidate that they have a wide variety of skills that can be used in other leadership roles. Sometimes RA selection isn’t based on who
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is most talented, it’s often how many positions are available, what the fit is for the community or staff, etc. D) Think of other roles the candidate would be good at and recommend them accordingly. After you’ve assured your friend that they do have talents, think of ways they can best utilize them. For example, if your friend is a great public speaker, maybe they’d serve as an excellent RHA Exec Board member (maybe even a CC?)...or if they have so many ideas for great programs, recommend them to the campus events planning board. There are MANY uses of student leaders on college campuses if you just know where to look and who to ask. E) Always remember....there’s always next year! Sometimes that extra year can be us ed to develop skills and grow as a leader which will make you more valuable next year. But what about those who received a placement letter? A HUGE congratulations is in order! This will be a great opportunity for them personally and professionally. However, it is a lot of time, effort, and commitment involved, so you as a friend may need to consider how this will impact your friendship. Will you be able to see each other as often or participate in the same activities next year? Best of Luck to all current and future RA’s~ and continued best wishes for those candidates who did not yet receive placement. At the very least, you’ll be able to sleep a lot better at night!
shoutouts
SNAPS to Western and Augustana! We know you’ve been working hard and can’t wait to see you at the conference!!! SNAPS to the outgoing Eboard! You have all done an amazing job this year. Everything has been a huge success. IRHA Luv!
Inter-Club Cooperation
By: Troy Curtis Augustana College
Our RHA has recently involved itself with multiple activities in conjunction with other organizations on our campus. Let’s face it: We are all busy with school and related affairs, so finding the time it takes to organize a full fledged campus-wide event can be difficult. Our local chapter of Circle K came to us with the preposition of joining them in a Malaria “Fight the Bite” week on our campus. Together, we set up a table in our student center to give out information about the disease, and then held a penny war among every floor on campus to see who could raise the most money for the Red Cross. For every ten dollars that we raised, the Red Cross could purchase one bug net for an at risk family in Africa. As a reward, we offered a pizza party to the winning floor. Another example of our club’s interorganizational collaboration includes a “Complaint Drive” done in conjunction with our school’s Student Government Association. The drive essentially consisted of members from both clubs walking around our student center cafeteria and asking students if they had any complaints or suggestion
about their halls or other school affairs that our RHA could work on. We had a great response, with plenty of suggestions, and the following week we held a forum with our Dean of Students in order to address the issues that had been brought up. We hope to make this an annual event through which we can address student issues to the administration and take a first-hand role in improving our halls. The advantages of such alliances among campus organizations are quite fruitful. Primarily, the ability to cut your work load nearly in half by using the increased man and brain power is a great stimulus to a usually busy general body. Also, combining funds is always smart, as we all know that the green is usually hard to come by, especially when you are trying to do things on a strict budget. This allows you to do things on a larger scale and get your organization’s name out there on campus and in the community. Finally, joining with other clubs is a great opportunity to meet new friends and create networking connections for the future.
Friendship between RHA and SGA??
By: Ted Mason
Yes it can happen!
leaders of SGA, ARH, and Campus Dining Services took a benchmarking trip to the University of Florida I am currently involved in the Student Government Association (SGA) at Illinois State University (ISU). Two and Florida State University. They benchmarked many years ago, our SGA and Association of Residence Halls different things, but most importantly the dining plans at these two universities. (ARH) reached a heightened level of confrontation. Today, both SGA and ARH work together to hold Out ARH wanted to develop a new meal plan on dining plan forums across campus. At these events, campus, and the SGA stepped in to stop the effort. they explain the proposal to students and listen to their Afterwards, there were many hard feelings between feedback. Together, they collect the feedback, take it the two organizations. For example, SGA believed to Campus Dining Services, and change what needs to that it had done the right thing to step in and stop the meal plan. ARH, on the other hand, thought that be changed. SGA had invaded their territory and meddled in what The Student Government Association and was not their business. For two years, the organizations Association of Residence Halls at Illinois State University work together better than ever before. Together, they fought and disagreed with each other. implement new plans that affect the entire student Today, a mere two years later, the SGA and ARH at ISU work together to achieve the things that used to body population. Together, they leave their legacy, and you can, too. be impossible on our campus. In September, the
A Closer Look at Leadership
By: Monica Gibbs, Illinois State University
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Hello IRHA! We are all very dedicated leaders on our campus and state wide. Not everyone is born to be a leader. Leaders are a rare type and we are all very unique in the fact that we have this in common. Being a leader is easy to people who naturally have this skill, but you never really analyze it. So let us look into it more: What is leadership? “Leadership is a state of interaction with others that can and must be cultivated to create duplicative results for positive and regenerating impact. (Unknown)” So what exactly does this mean? Well, it means that we leave an impression on others, we help others to accomplish things in their daily lives, and without this quality many people would not know who to turn to. Own up, not only to yourself, but to those that look to you for leadership and guidance. Realize that this is something that not everyone has, and use it to your advantage. What you choose to do really does have an affect on other people. Next time you are in a meeting or at an event look at the situation and realize that you are influencing lives! Do what you do best and do not ever let anyone tell you differently. IRHA Luv, Monica Gibbs President of ARH at Illinois State University
learn about irha points
Each affiliated school can earn points through out the IRHA year. Points help determine the Instituion of the Year award as well as Most Improved IRHA luv... Here is the point breakdown! Affiliation (On Time) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Points Affiliation (Late) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Points Conference Attendance (per conference) . . . . . . . . . . 30 points . Of the Months (per submission) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points School Reports (per report) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 points . Articles to the newsletter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 points Exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 points Winning IRHA OTMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 points 4 year service pins (per recipient) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 points Bid Submissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 points Program Submissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points Hosting an Executive Board Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 points
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