RHA takes home residence hall awards

Thirteen residence hall residents and two Residence Hall Association advisers started the Thanksgiving holiday early so they could attend the annual Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls Conference Nov. 18 to 20 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. \nThe group rocked out with other students from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, and left an impression on their peers during the rock star-themed leadership event. They came home with one of the three awards and honorable mentions for the other two.\nIU won the Commitment to Diversity of the Year award and received an honorable mention in both the National Residence Hall Honorary Chapter of the Year award and Student of the Year award categories. \nAdam Wiszowaty, a vice president of RHA and conference delegate, was pleased that IU did so well at the conference. He and a few other students and advisers spent months preparing for the conference and writing the eight 30-page bids that entitled them to be considered for the awards. This was the first year IU bid for any of the awards, and he thought it was an honor to win the Commitment to Diversity of the Year award.\nThis particular award is "given to a school, which shows a year-long commitment to awareness and education of diversity issues," according to the GLACURH constitution.\nWiszowaty said IU certainly meets these criteria.\n"While the campus might not be incredibly diverse, there are an amazing amount of initiatives in place, from the CUE program to CultureFest to the Commission on Multicultural Understanding and all the student groups on campus," he said.\nIU nominated junior Andrea Webster, RHA's director of environmentalism, for Student of the Year. Wiszowaty said she was nominated particularly because of her commitment to the recycling program in the residence halls and to a Nalgene bottle project that is scheduled to begin next semester.\n"She has just taken environmentalism in the residence halls to an entirely new level," he said.\nIU's chapter of the NRHH, a national honor society for residence hall leaders that encompasses regional branches like GLACURH, received the Chapter of the Year honorable mention probably because of IU's growth within the NRHH and because of NRHH and RHA's growing presence on campus, Wiszowaty said. \nRHA Adviser Sarah Nagy said receiving this kind of recognition is important for many reasons.\n"First, it provides recognition to students who have worked hard and served the residence hall community," she said. "Second, it reinforces that our residence halls are vibrant communities and that our students are involved and care about their communities. Third, the awards also allow IU (students) to share what they are doing with other schools."\nIn addition to benefiting from recognition, IU's delegates benefited from the opportunity to learn more about residence hall leadership and to meet other residence hall leaders at the conference, Nagy said.\nFreshman Anthony Smith, a first-time delegate, said he spent most of his time learning about the "intricate role" residence halls play in students' lives and left feeling motivated to do more.\n"Going on this conference has inspired me to heighten my involvement within RHA and the University," he said. "My hope is that I can be as influential and effective as my predecessors and that I can make my mark on Indiana University"