TETRIS RHA building block award How we all fit together glacurh Regional Business Conference 2017 Southern Illinois Universityedwardsville Eastern Michigan university
TABLE OF CONTENTS RHA Executive Board 3 Advisors 4 Community Council Improvement 5 Programming 6 Regional Involvement 7-11 National Involvement 12-15 Letters of Support 16-17 1
RHA Executive Board Executive President: Kevin Hillman EVP of Finance and Records: Michael Trombley EVP of Programming: Paola Nkwuzor EVP of Community Outreach and Development: Mikaela Trowbridge EVP of PR and Marketing: Maddie Nemecek National Communication Coordinator: Mitchell Devore 2
Full Executive Board, Finally! The biggest change we have this year as opposed to previous years is that we finally have every position on the E-board filled. This is the first time that the EVP of Community Outreach and Development has been filled in RHA. The person in the position plans to make a Relay for Life Team for RHA and the Community Councils to join, have community councils and RHA bond more together, and create and inclusivity and diversity committee to assist with promotion and education about minority groups, while providing solidarity with said groups against the various oppressive forces that wish to discriminate. 3
Advisors "RHA grew so much this year from previous years. This can be seen with the extensive retention of our Community Council members. Each RHA general assembly meeting has over 40 students who are in attendance each week. This E board implemented a new Homecoming program to go through for years to come. They also bid and won a GLACURH Commitment to Diversity award, the first win in 7 years for EMU. They deserve this award because of the large changes they put into the organization this year. -Julie Goodwin, Advisor Our advisors this year are amazing. This is Julie s first year as our advisor and has done such a good job helping and leading us in the right direction. She is always available for any question we may have, attends every event and meeting, and is just inspirational. We could not have a successful board without her. Becky has been with RHA for a while and is also just a fantastic person. She helps us put on large scale programs and keeps us on track for what to do next. We are so thankful for our advisors and could not be where we are without them. 4
Community Council Improvement The first structural difference RHA implemented this year was at the very start of the year when establishing the Community Councils. This year instead of having community council being a thing that that no one knew anything about and then people just joining it, there were meetings in all the lounges of the residents halls informing residents what Community Council is and what it does. These active campaigns spiked interest in people, and got residents who were genuinely interested in making a difference in their halls to connect rather than people who had no idea at all what it was. The voting in of the new community council members remained the same as the system of voting by email was successful. Community Council involvement this year has leaped forward from what it was in the past. Almost every position is filled or are all filled in the councils. For the first time in many years the council dedicated to working within the upperclassmen apartment complexes is staffed. All the community councils are active and plan out multiple programs each month for their respective halls. Additionally, they provide invaluable assistance for RHA s large programs and bring people in by advertising. Each position from the different halls meets with an e-board member to stay on track, and receive help when needed. 5
Programming "RHA has grown so much in such a short amount of time, it's honestly amazing to me. - Kevin Hillman This year RHA has made a tremendous growth within our programming. The involvement within our programs has grown, as well as the programs themselves. The programs are running smoother with better planning and execution. All members of the E-board are present at every function, and care to put on a fun and successful program for students. Also alongside our large scale programs we put on smaller programs in the halls and around campus, which differs from previous years when RHA would only put on large programs and it was the Community Councils responsibility to do all small programs. We really are making the university a community one program at a time. 6
Regional: GLACURH 2016 Eastern Michigan University Residence Housing Association sent a delegation to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for GLACURH 2016. The Delegation consisted of 9 delegates and 2 advisors. A couple of our delegates presented programs at the conference. Casey Gomia: Walk the Line This program was a part of the Diversity Category. Walk The Line was a variant of "Cross The Line", where participants had the opportunity to recognize the similarities and differences among each other within the diverse world in which we live. The first half of the program consisted of all attendees introducing themselves (name, pronouns, school, and favorite movie) and then as a group, stand at one end of the line. A series of yes or no diversity based statements were then read aloud and when attendees personally agreed with or identified with that statement, they walked the length of the line and faced the way they came. These statements touched on a variety of topics such as privilege, sexism, mental health, sexuality, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, cis-ism, lookism, and classism. Examples of these questions included: -"I identify as the gender I was assigned at birth." - "I have been stopped by the police while walking home at night." - "I have laughed at someone else based on the expense of their identity." - "I have felt bad about myself because my peers could afford more expensive things than I could." 7
WALK THE LINE con t The second half of the program was a debrief where attendees were asked to reflect on the activity and in what ways it has affected them. Attendees had the opportunity to discuss with those around them what most stood out to them. Then as a collective, we discussed the following questions: - "How did you feel when you walked the line?" - "How did you feel when you watched others walk the line?" - "How can you apply what you learned during this activity to your life?" The purpose of this program was to prepare everyone in the room to be willing to be more empathetic and relative towards their fellow humans, provide attendees with a space to reflect upon their own self-identities and the cultural identities of other persons, and to facilitate the understanding and acceptance of each other's diversities. 8
Michael Trombley: 48th GLACURH Diversity Awards The second program was presented by Michael Trombley and was titled the 48 th GLACURH Diversity Awards. The program was also included in the Diversity category. The Program started with a discussion about what diversity means and why it is important. The discussion also included topics such as, cultural appropriation and discrimination. Attendees of the program then made their own arts and crafts Diversity awards and presented them to the group. The real worth of the program happened while making their awards, while attendees openly discussed their own lives and experiences and how it has changed over the course of their college experience, how they see diversity on their campus, and how to properly deal with differences in culture. 9
EMU s Commitment to Diversity EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY Diversity: Our Foundation to Success GLACURH Regional Leadership Conference 2016 - Milwaukee, WI Delegation brought many things back from GLACURH but chief among them was the focus on diversity. EMU has always had a focus on diversity. As a result, EMU was the recipient of the GLACURH 2016 Commitment to Diversity award. After returning from GLACURH the EMU RHA executive board approached diversity with a new zeal. The executive board found a charter to start a new committee completely devoted to promoting and celebrating diversity and inclusion. The idea was formed off of ideas from the plethora of programs based on diversity, included two from EMU RHA members. At GLACURH EMU RHA also gained a new philosophy in terms of finance as well. At GLACURH EMU RHA Executive Vice President of Finance and Records and previously mentioned program presenter Michael Trombley learned that it is important view the money that RHA has received each semester, as money for students that semester. Before GLACURH, EMU RHA had a history of not spending a lot of money. Evidence of this is show though the $33,000 rollover EMU RHA received this year from the previous year. However, this year EMU RHA has been working hard to host many educational and recreational programs to benefit the residence living on campus using the money that is rightfully theirs to benefit from. 10
Andrea Mellendorf: Step Up! Andrea was a GLACURH delegate in 2016. She is a member of NRHH and serves as a Resident Advisor at EMU. Step Up or Step Back: Finding a Balance Between Life and Leadership will begin with an activity. For this activity, there will be a masking tape line on the floor that all participants will start on. Statements will then be read that instructs them to move or stay put depending on how they identify with the statement. If the participant agrees with this statement, they will move backward. If they do not identify with that statement, they stay in place. These statements will continue for approximately 15 minutes, depending on the size of the group and how many questions are asked before the activity begins. In the end, it will be revealed that the middle line represents balance, the area behind the line represents being over involved in your leadership role, potentially to an unhealthy degree, and in front of the line represents potentially not dedicating enough time to the leadership role in question. Participants will then be asked to take a moment to reflect on how far off of the balance line they ended up, and why they think that is. After that moment of reflection, the debrief time will begin with a PowerPoint that briefly explains burnout, how to prevent burnout, and ways to ensure that leaders are practicing self-care even during the busyness of being involved. Additionally, the PowerPoint will present ways to get even more involved or dedicated in the case of individuals who may have found themselves way in front of the line. The program will conclude with a 20 minute discussion between participants that is prompted by questions that focus on methods that others use to avoid burnout, what they have experienced in terms of being over involved, and how to best identify burnout or unhealthy amounts of stress in coworkers, residents or peers. 11
National Involvement Last year the Resident Housing Association Executive Board for the year 2016-2017 school year attended the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) at the University of Delaware. The entirety of our executive board (E-Board) was new so going to the conference allowed the opportunity to fully experience what NACURH was and take in the vastness and solidarity of such an organization, ultimately putting into perspective the organization we joined. Attending NACURH also allowed the opportunity for the E-Board to grow together as a single, holistic group. 12
Nacurh delegates & Nrhh The delegates that attended the conference were our President Kevin Hillman who also acted as National Communications Coordinator (NCC) during the conference, our Vice President of Finance & Records Michael Trombley who attended most of the programming sessions to get ideas of what we could bring back to Eastern, and Sarah Hart the NRHH president who was present at most of the business meetings with our president to represent Eastern. Finally, we had our former advisor Charles Anderson attend with us. He had been to many NACURH conferences before so his experience was invaluable in assisting what was admittedly an incredibly green team. show us the ropes. He was able to help us take full advantage of being at the conference while meeting people, learning about new programs ideas, and ways to make RHA better. 13
What we learned from NACURH As the E-board was new, and we still didn t have an official NCC, we chose to forgo submitting any bids for NACURH 2016 something we rectified at GLACURH 2016. However, the entire NACURH experience was very worthwhile, we saw what bids were and how we would go about making them for subsequent conferences. NACURH 2016 was the building block the new E-board needed to be our climb towards building up Eastern Michigan Universities RHA. We attended events, and learned what we needed to do. We met new people and saw what we needed to become. We were encompassed by the spirit of NACURH for the first time, and it was a feeling we are unlikely to forget. 14
Future Goals Our hope is that this year a significantly greater number of executive board and general assembly members may receive the opportunity to attend NACURH 2017. They ought to have the experience that we had, they ought to be given the advantage of bringing back amazing memories and plans to their respective communities. While our E-Board, our General Assemblies, our advisors, our RHA as a whole has improved beyond measure in 2016, now is not the time to be complacent. Now is the time to continue upwards. We, the RHA Executive Board of Eastern Michigan University are hungry for growth and humble for the opportunities presented to us to help our community and university. 15
Housing and Residence Life February 13, 2017 GLACURH Regional Board of Directors Dear Regional Board of Directors: It is with great pleasure that I, along with my colleagues at Eastern Michigan University, write this letter of support for our Residence Housing Association to be considered for the Building Blocks Award at GLACURH in March. This award would be a perfect match for all the impressive work that I have seen this year from our RHA. EMU s RHA has been well served by a dynamic and new e-board. The e-board has provided leadership and role modeling to the on-campus community. Their leadership and excitement has driven up engagement and participation with the general assembly meetings and community council. Through this engagement, they have hosted several campus blockbuster programs that will become legacy programs in the future including the Green and White Ball, the first homecoming dance in decades and EMU Bingo. The Green and White Ball was such an exciting event with over 300 people in attendance. RHA has also supported their NRHH chapter, several other programs on campus, and been good advocates to students. Their members are active representatives on the Board of Regents- Student Affairs Committee and Student Food Advisory Board. RHA is an exciting organization that has started to shape their community though the programming and advocacy they offered. This group of students is very deserving as most of these initiatives are new this year. Please contact me if you have further questions, 734.487.5372 or by email jzalba@emich.edu. Sincerely, Jeanette Zalba Director Lower Level Dining Commons One Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 734.487.1300 Fax: 734.487.8513 16
Dear NCC Delegates, I the President of the Resident Housing Association s Executive Board at Eastern Michigan University am writing this letter in support of the bid for the RHA Building Block of the Year Award. During the 2016 school year the Resident Housing Association E-board has been very active in on the campus of Eastern Michigan University putting on large and and small scale programs for the residents of the university. They have allocated funds and partnered with different and diverse organizations across campus to put on events that would best serve the Eastern Michigan community. One the best things they have done this year is boosted involvement within the Resident Housing Community. They have done this through Community Council or (CC) for short. In the past Community Council has never had every hall have a council. This year every residence hall has a council that is fully involved and serving their community. To be more specific RHA has put on some of the best programs of the year. During homecoming week, they partnered with another organization to put on the homecoming dance for the year The Green and White Ball. The event had a very successful turnout and might even change tradition here at the university of announcing the homecoming court at the dance rather than at the game. Another event that RHA put on on that was very successful was Late Night Breakfast. RHA partnered with our dinning department to serve breakfast during the evening in one of the dining halls and make sure it was open later than usual. This event happened during finals week so residents were able to socialize and enjoy food with their friends and forget about the stress of finals for a bit. We ve also partnered with other organizations and allocated funding towards any of their programs. Programs such as Hustle your Heart Out where people learn how to hustle dance to different songs to raise money for a scholarship for African-Americans or the yearly Japanese Student Association s Dinner Show that prominent Japanese figures come from the surround area to attend and celebrate their culture. This a just a few of the things RHA has one this year for the community here at Eastern. Next I want to talk about what RHA has done outside of programming for the year. RHA changed the format of the Community Councils so that more residence halls could have one. They also changed how members of they are voted into community council the year. The community councils have the power to vote in new members if they want to. RHA has also started a Diversity Inclusiveness Committee this year due to many events of racial hate speech happening here at Eastern Michigan University. This committee was designed to respond if any ordeal such as seeing hate speech out on the walls were to occur they would provide forums and come up with programming they could talk about diversity and Eastern Michigan is a university of diverse population and we won t stand for hate speech or discrimination. This year RHA has grown more than they ever did in the past. They have a full executive board which has not happened in 2 years They won an award for diversity at GLACURH this year and that hasn't happened in 5 years. They have been very involved in the community here at Eastern Michigan University and have put on programs residents will always remember and that have become traditions. Most of all this year RHA has built the housing community. More people than ever are interested in being RA s and the like than ever before. Many people want to be a part of the organization now and that is why what they do is so important. They certainly get people involved so they can enjoy their time here at Eastern while meeting new people and forging new experiences along the way. There is no better way to do that than getting involved in housing because their main purpose is to serve the residents of the university so that they can pay it forward and in turn get more people excited about being here at EMU. Kevin Hillman RHA Executive President 17
Tetris Game. Terapeak, http://www.terapeak.com/worth/radica-big-screen-tetris-handheldgame-free-shipping/172121844932/. Tetris Board. Unwinnable, http://www.unwinnable.com/2011/04/29/coffee-break-from-russiawith-fun/.