When resident assistants from campus residence halls gathered Wednesday night in Milton Daniel Hall, a collection of donations for hurricane victims punctuated the standard fare of awards and announcements.Barbara Hawkins, the associate director of residential life, said the RA all-hall is basically for RAs on campus to get together, make announcements and give out individual awards.
“This meeting we had Chic-fil-A for everyone and next meeting we will be going to a Fort Worth Brahmas hockey game,” Hawkins said. “We are also collecting the donations for the hurricane victims that each hall RA collected within their wings.”
In the wake of hurricanes Rita and Katrina each hall on campus has taken donations for the victims. The contest is between each wing in each dormitory on campus Hawkins said.
“We will announce the collective winning dormitory on Friday and the wing that raises the most money will get a pizza party,” Hawkins said.
Vignesh Sachidanandam, a senior engineering major and RA in Milton Daniel, said each RA put buckets outside of their door and the residents in the wing put donations in them.
Sachidanandam said he is confident that Milton Daniel will have a large sum to contirbute.
Erin Sawyer, a senior early education major and RA in Foster Hall, said her entire hall raised more than $200.
“I know that one wing in Foster raised $120 by themselves,” Sawyer said. “Our contest turned into penny wars between the wings so I think we will raise a lot of money.”
Craig Allen, the director of Residential Services, also made his welcoming speech as the new director during the meeting.
“I really want to be involved with the events and socials in your residence halls, and am looking forward to a good year,” Allen said.
Awards were announced in five categories. Erin Sawyer said each RA holds events within their wings in the categories of community, academic, responsibility, developmental and social.
Sawyer also won the community category with her program called “Primary Pen Pals.”
“The girls in my wing wrote letters to second graders at Nola Dunn Academy encouraging them to have a successful year,” Sawyer said.
Also in Foster Hall, Astrid Viveros a senior radio-TV-film major, won the academic category with her “Random Facts” program.
In the responsibility category Jason Newton, a senior engineering major, won with his “A Little Gin and Tonic” program for Brachman Hall.
“We didn’t have any real alcohol but the Drug and Alcohol Education Department did talk to us,” Newton said. “We then had a trivia game about drug and alcohol facts and how to play it safe.”
In the developmental category Lance Kearns, a junior history major, won for Foster Hall with “How to get Fat in 30 Days.” Kearns said for his program his wing all ate fast food and watched “Super-Size Me.”
“We all felt really bad after the movie and talked about the fast food industry and how to stay in shape and eat healthy,” Kearns said.
For the social category Ryan Hambley, a sophomore education major and RA in Clark, won with the program “Fun Before, After and During the Game.” Clark residents decorated signs, and themselves, for the football game and had a social afterwards, Hambley said.
In the all-hall category Sherley won with its program “It’s a Journey,” and Colby Hall won hall council for their “Alice In Wonderland”-style “Unbirthday Party.”
Two individuals were also named “RAs of the Month.” Austin Mierow, a junior e-business major, of Brachman hall and Josh Sharon, a junior communication studies major, of Milton Daniel hall won the honor for September.