SCRA Spaghetti Night

The lovely ladies of the hall association of South Carrick, SCRA, hosted a Spaghetti Supper on Tuesday, September 28th.  You could smell the yummy aroma of the spaghetti from the lobby of South Carrick, and this brought lots of residents out to the event.  Dinner nights are a great way to bring out residents and allow them the opportunity to socialize with each other. 

Wampus Cats in line to get their spaghetti!

The SCRA ladies serving up some delicious food!

Residents helping themselves to the food and refreshments.

SCRA set up tables with butcher paper and markers for residents to leave their names and room numbers.  What a cool idea!

There were lots of festive decorations!

 

Fantastic job, SCRA!

Humes Hall Alcohol Awareness Program



Some of the lovely ladies of Humes put on an excellent alcohol education program on Monday, September 27th.  Humes RAs Brook Beasley, Brittney Turner, Jess Evans, Courtney Putzel, Carrie Underwood, PJ Hord, and Brittany Wiseman organized this program and brought in UTPD.   

The UTPD Officer talked with residents about alcohol problems on campus for a few minutes to begin. The UTPD officer talked about alcohol problems on campus for a few minutes to start it off with.
 

Then, some residents played Mario Kart Wii with drunk goggles on and others tried to walk a line that was taped down on the floor with the goggles on.  


The UTPD officer talked about what police were looking for when they pull drivers over and have them take a sobriety test. There were 8 signs that people were intoxicated when walking the line, and after each person walked the line, he would go through and tell us what they messed up on.  

There was great attendance at this excellent program! 

Snacks are a must to bring people out to your programs!

Fabulous job Brook, Brittney, Jess, Courtney, Carrie, PJ, and Brittany!  Special thanks to Brook for e-mailing in the photos and event description! 

A Time Out With Tiger

Our series of learning from our wise Wampus Cat Mascots continues!  For this post, we are spending some time with Tiger. 

Now, Tiger loves to eat!  However, he won't eat just anything.  You remember how he found goats to be unappetizing.       

He does have some favorites foods though.


Tiger intrigued by some soy beef wraps I was making.  Jared's helping him take a closer look.

 

Tiger loves cat food!  Don't worry, we don't normally let him have free reign on his cat food like this.



As much as we'd love to give Tiger whatever he wants to eat in whatever quantities he'd like to consume, we have to be careful to give him a healthy diet, so that he can remain a healthy Wampus Cat.

What about you, Wampus Cats?  Do you or your residents ever struggle with eating healthy on campus?  Eating healthy on campus is possible, but comes with challenges. 

Here are a few tips for eating healthy on campus:

Be sure to eat breakfast. Skipping it could leave you famished and cause you to snack on whatever's around later in the day. When it comes to A.M. options at the cafeteria, go for fresh fruit (cut up or whole), light yogurt, oatmeal, English muffins (with jam), high-fiber cereal (with fat-free milk), and omelets made with Egg Beaters. Avoid pastries, giant bagels with butter or cream cheese, and greasy breakfast meats.

Stay hydrated.  Drink plenty of H2O throughout the day.  Have a glass of water before you make the rounds of the dining hall to select your food.  This can help you feel more full and make healthier dining choices.

For lunch and dinner, try sandwiches and salads.  Make yourself a salad or sandwich of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, lean deli meat (like turkey breast), and other no-guilt salad and sandwich toppers.  Try out the low-fat sub options available at Subway!

When it comes to hot items, go for grilled chicken, veggie burgers (in lettuce buns!), and baked or grilled fish. Stay away from mayo-packed deli salads (like tuna salad), creamy or cheesy pasta dishes, and oversized subs.

For snacking, your best bet is to keep guilt-free emergency snacks with you at ALL times. One reason college students may put on weight while at school is that they're SO busy and find themselves unprepared when hunger hits; so they grab whatever food they can, whenever they can. Bad idea! Keep your residence hall room stocked with great stuff you can eat in the room AND grab and take with you. Try whole fruit (like oranges and apples), high-fiber snack bars with 200 or fewer calories, jerky, and 100-calorie packs of almonds. Keep your micro fridge stocked with light string cheese, fat-free yogurt, and baby carrots or other veggies.

Be aware of any alcohol consumption.  If you or your residents choose to drink alcohol (off campus of course), be aware of the calories in the alcohol you are consuming.  Click here for an extensive list of the calories present in different forms of alcohol.  If you or your residents do choose to drink, be sure to do so in moderation, to stay safe and healthy.

An important part of being a happy and healthy Wampus Cat also includes engaging in regular exercise. 

Here are a few tips on fitting exercise into your busy schedules:

Walk to class instead of taking the bus. 

Take the stairs instead of the elevators.

Check out the workout options available through UT Rec Sports.

Attend a TRECS workout class with your residents. 

Invest in a few workout DVDs so that you can exercise any time you like.  Crunch Fitness offers some great DVDs catering towards a wide variety of fitness interests and levels.  Try one out in one of your common areas as exercise program with your residents.

Start an intramural team with your residents.  For information on UT Intramurals, click here. 

Find physical activities that you enjoy and focus on how they make you feel.  If you tune into the relaxing, stress relieving consequences of exercise, this can motivate you to stick with your exercise routine in the long run.


Here are the sources used for this post.  Feel free to visit these sites for additional resources and tips: 

http://hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=2183
http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-alcoholic-drinks-ic1401
http://www.collagevideo.com/exercise-videos/crunch-exercise-videos-21&page=1&pp=40
http://recsports.utk.edu/Programs/Fitness/Class%20Schedules/
http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=53101&sc=3030#Story
http://lowfatsubs.com/lowfat/index.htm
http://recsports.utk.edu/Programs/Intramurals/index.php

Famous Felines

Did you know, many people speculate that Ptolemaic Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII had cats?

Some say that Cleopatra's cats had access to the royal palace and freely roamed the city and great temples under guard.  Awesome!

Image from Google Images

If someone as powerful as Cleopatra chose to live with cats in her royal palace, cats are obviously very influential creatures! 

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in the film Cleopatra.  Image from Google Images.

While you may not live with Cleopatra, as Wampus Cat RAs, you can tremendously influence the residents you live with. 

Never forget the positive impact you can have on your residents through continuing to build strong communities on your floors and in your buildings!  Here are some great online resources about how RAs can be a positive influence on their residents:

http://www.residentassistant.com/advice/onduty.htm

http://www.reslife.net/html/so-now_1004a.html 

A Pause with Paws

Wampus Cat Greetings!  In keeping with our plan to learn from the ancient wisdom of our Wampus Cat Mascots, it's time to pay a visit to Ms. Paws.

Now, Ms. Paws is a very sweet natured cat.  She is very friendly and affectionate toward people she's familiar with.  She and Tiger usually get along great and have lots of fun wrestling and snuggling together. 

But, sometimes Ms. Paws gets an attitude and is not too keen to share things with Tiger.  She can get pretty territorial about the cat perch and cat tower. 

Paws doesn't always like to share the cat tower with Tiger.

As you can see by the way she is basically sitting on Tiger, Paws doesn't always like to share the window perch.

Wampus Cats, does Ms. Paws remind you of any of your Wampus Kittens (residents)?  This is the time of year when roommate conflicts can become very common.  The honeymoon phase of being very excited about the new school year begins to wear off, as time goes by and school work increases. 

Here are some tips for handling roommate conflicts:

• Make sure all your residents have completed their Roommate Contracts.  These are very helpful tools for helping your residents talk about what boundaries their comfortable with, what their pet peeves are, etc.  It's very important that residents have talked with their roommates about preferences regarding visitation/guests, shower schedule (for suite style rooms), cleanliness of the room, study times in the room, sleep time, use of personal items, music/noise, and use of space in the room. 
• Sometimes it helps for residents to keep in mind that they don't have to necessarily be best friends with their roommates.  While some great friendships can start out this way, many people have friendly but not super close relationships with their college roommates, and that's totally fine.
• Discourage your residents from talking about their roommates behind their backs.  This can often get back to the roommate and escalate the situation.
• Make sure your residents are aware that any time living space is shared, compromises have to take place for people to live together in peace.  Help your residents decide what issues they are both willing to compromise on.
• Encourage your residents to make use of the other common ares in your building (study lounges, multipurpose rooms, etc.) as needed.  Sometimes getting out of the room a bit on a regular basis can help diffuse tense roommate situations.
• Make sure your residents are aware of other campus spaces that can be great for studying and/or reading:  the library, Starbucks, dining halls, the U.C.
• Remind your residents to be realistic and patient.  For many of our students, sharing a room is a new experience for them and it takes some getting used to. 

Here are some good online resources on residence life roommate conflicts:
http://reslife.georgetown.edu/studentfamily/dailyliving/roommates/rmconflicttips.html
http://www.udel.edu/reslife/parents/roommate.html
http://www.drew.edu/depts/reslife.aspx?id=14453

The West Area Programming Office has ready made bulletin boards on roommate success that you are welcome to use!

Always remember you can use your head staff as a resource if you need further assistance with roommate conflicts.

What about stress and conflict amongst your building staff members?  During this time of year, RAs sometimes feel more stressed out as the their academic work load increases.  Sometimes tensions arise between staff members. 

What can be done about tension between staff members? 

• Keep in mind that you don't have to be best friends with everyone on your staff.  While this is great if it happens naturally, it's fine if it doesn't.  The main goal is to get along as well as possible and support each other, so that you can best serve your residents and build a safe and welcoming community in your hall.
• Remember that conflicts in the workplace are common.  It doesn't matter what field you plan to go into to, work conflicts are a part of life.  Working through conflicts professionally now as an RA can prepare you for staff issues that may arise in whatever field your choose to go into in the future. 
• Make sure that you are getting out of the hall enough.  While you are expected to be dedicated to your RA job, it is very healthy to take appropriate time away from your building when possible.  Having activities and relationships outside of UT Housing can help you keep staff difficulties in perspective.
• Don't talk about staff members behind their backs.  This is likely to get back to them and cause a greater conflict.
• Talk with your head staff about how they would like you to address tensions you have with another staff member.  Such concerns are often best addressed respectively, directly, and in private.
• Make sure you are taking good care of yourself and doing what you can to manage your stress well.  We are all more easily irritated when we are tired and stressed.  Be sure you are getting enough sleep, eating well, getting some regular exercise, and spending time with supportive friends, family, and significant others.  

Remember, a relaxed Wampus Cat is a happy Wampus Cat!

Humes and Reese Classy Cocktails Program

On Thursday, September 16th, Humes RA Megan Cusick and Reese RA Chris Porter put on a "Classy Cocktails" mixer program.

RAs Chris Porter and Megan Cusick.

Both Megan and Chris advertised for this program by giving the residents invitations to attend the event.  Chris posted a sign on his floor emphasizing the opportunity for free food, drinks, and the chance to meet some lovely Humes ladies.  Megan posted a sign on her floor as well and, at the start of the program, had the Humes RA on desk make an announcement encouraging residents to come down to the Humes West Multipurpose Room for drinks and snacks.

Megan and Chris made up mocktails, which are cocktails without alcohol.  The Shirley Temples and virgin Strawberry Daiquiris were a big hit!

On the bottom of the cups, marker was used to write "R" and "UD" on the bottom of the cups.  The "R" was for roofie and the "UD" was for "underage drinking."  Markings like this are a great way to facilitate discussions about these topics in substance abuse education programs.  Residents often don't notice indicators like these at first, but later on when they do notice them or they are pointed out to them, educational conversations can take place.

Megan and Chris also distributed an educational pamphlet on alcohol and drinking.  This pamphlet is available in the West Area Programming Office!

There was a great turn out of residents at this program.  Everyone seemed excited to enjoy the cocktails and food and mingle with residents from another hall.

This program was a good way for residents to meet new people and learn about safe alcohol practices.

Nice work, Megan and Chris!

Cat Sanctuary

The other day I learned about an AMAZING place called Caboodle Ranch.  Caboodle Ranch is a cat sanctuary for homeless cats in Ponte Vedre Beach, Florida.

Caboodle Ranch is a 30 acre non-profit cat rescue society founded by a single individual who cared enough to make a difference in the lives of our furry friends.  Craig Grant bought a tree farm far away from the city and turned it into a sanctuary for all the cats he has rescued.  He lives there with the cats and provides them with love, care and companionship.

Amazing!

What about you, Wampus Cats? Did you know that you can strive towards creating your own "cat sanctuary" for your Wampus Kittens (residents) on your floors? Community development initiatives are key to helping your residents feel welcome, connected, and at home on your floor. Here are some ways to help continue building the community on your floors:

• Create a Facebook group for your floor.
• Organize a floor intramural team.
• Implement floor programs that get students interacting or even competing with each other.
• Hold door decoration contests.
• Introduce residents on your floor who might share a common interest (Xbox, musical interests, sports, favorite TV shows, etc.).
• Eat meals with your residents.
• Attend events and activities of your residents (a sport they play, a theater event they’re acting in, etc.).
• Seek out shy residents and stay in contact with them. Invite them to programs, activities, and meals.
• Participate in homecoming activities as a floor.
• Know your residents’ academic majors and hometowns.
• Listen to residents to know where they are coming from.
• Find out which of your residents have classes together and help them form study groups.
• Order T-Shirts for your floor.
• Hold programs that can be repeated every week, such as watching a favorite TV show together in your floor lounge or another common area.

Remember, for your Wampus Kittens, your floor is their home away from home. Help make it a "cat sanctuary" where they can feel at home and connected to one another! Every Wampus Cat and Kitten needs a welcoming home away from home!

West Side RA of the Month for September - Elijah Lightfoot!

Congratulations to North Carrick RA, Elijah Lightfoot, on being selected as the West Side RA of the Month for September!

Here's what Elijah's nominators, North Carrick HD Matt Varga and North Carrick AHD Alex Merchant, had to say about him:

There are multiple reasons why Elijah should be the RA of the Month. First, Elijah is a first year RA on a staff comprised primarily of first year RA’s; however, not once has he let his inexperience hold him back. He has been a leader on the staff by stepping up and asking questions. He consistently takes everything to the next level. For example, his Bulletin Board was arguably the best bulletin board in the building; it may not be comparable to other buildings, but he certainly went above and beyond what any of his fellow staff members did. Please see the attached pictures. Additionally, during the hectic time of move in and the construction, Elijah found the time to create a door dec for himself that clearly took time and effort (see picture). Next, never have officially completed a program before, Elijah hosted his first program last night titled Late Night Rumble. It was a joint program with South Carrick and over forty people attended the program (both sides provided a comparable number of people). Furthermore, I believe this says something about the type of community Elijah has had on his floor. Finally, I ask my RA’s to submit a weekly report (see attached) and as you can see he has also submitted quality weekly reports in addition to his program planning form and community development log. Elijah is going strong and I believe this type of behavior of a first year RA should be strongly rewarded!

Captions for these photos by Matt and Alex from their completed RA of the Month Nomination Form:

This is a nice clean, crisp bulletin board.

This is his information board. He spent a lot of time making sure his residents have the information they need to be successful!

Elijah went with the simple yet creative avenue for his bulletin board and door decs.

Elijah took it upon himself to create a door dec beyond any door dec I have seen.

His door decs are centered around the move 300, which are about Spartans.

A simple trash room sign made into something fun and relevant to guys. Again going above and beyond!

Here are the other awesome West Side RAs that were also nominated as RA of the Month for September:
Hess - Angela Frantz
Humes - Taylor Staley
Morrill - Sarah Gregory
Reese - Chris Porter

At the last area meeting of each month, the West Side HDs and Anna discuss the nominees and select the RA of the Month.  Each month, the RA of the Month is featured on the bulletin board outside the West Area Office!

Way to go, Elijah! 

Submit Your Rock Photos

Did you know that if you paint the UT Rock, you can submit your photos to be posted online?  You can do so through this link:  http://www.utk.edu/therock/index.php
Thanks to South Carrick Hall Director Amanda Koch for this tip!

South Carrick RA Courtney Luna recently did a program with her residents to paint the rock.  Check out their work:

Awesome!  One of Courtney's residents, Brittany Radcliff, submitted this photo.

Nice work, South Carrick 9th Floor Knockouts! 

Having a program to paint The Rock is a great bonding activity to allow your residents to connect to a UT tradition! 

Your West Area Offices!

Given that our West Area Offices were under construction during RA Training and we couldn't offer our usual formal tour of the offices then, we're going to offer a virtual tour on this blog!

First stop, the West Area Office (WAO) in North Carrick Hall:

This is where you will find the lovely Kathy Morgan. 

She is the West Area Administrative Support Assistant III.  Kathy is in the WAO 8am-12:30pm, 1:30pm-4:45pm, Monday-Friday.  When Kathy is in the WAO it is open and accessible.  During non-business hours, RAs need to be accompanied by a head staff member to gain access to the WAO.

Sometimes Kathy is in a meeting during business hours, so you can always call first to be sure the WAO is open.  The number is 865-974-4201.

Also in the WAO you will find our West Area Assistant Director, and our fearless Wampus Cat leader, Anna Hobby. 

Anna and Kathy both love to have RA visitors.  Please stop by and say hi!

The WAO is also where our copy machine is housed.  You can use this copy machine for work related purposes such as copying your bulletin boards.  Just be kind and gentle to our dear copier.  It tends to cooperate more that way.  :)

Additionally in the WAO, you will find my mailbox.  It is labeled WAGA for West Area GA.  If you need to submit reimbursements or advanced funds requests when I'm not in my office, you can drop them in this mailbox.  Please just be sure your hall director has approved and signed off on your request first.  In some of your buildings, your hall director will turn your requests into the WAO for you, after signing off on them.  Check with your hall director on your building's protocol.

Speaking of my office, let's head over there.  The West Area Programming Office (WAPO) is in South Carrick Hall. 

To gain access to the WAPO when I'm not there, you can check out the key from the South Carrick front desk.  This is where you can find the lovely South Carrick Administrative Support Assistant II, Sandie White.

The key for the WAPO can be checked out 7 days a week, 8am-1am.  You need to bring your driver's license to check out the key.  Don't forget to return the key when you are done in the WAPO!

Now, in the WAPO you can find many great goodies.  We have butcher paper, construction paper, die cuts, balloons, ribbon, a helium tank, fabric for bulletin boards, and borders for bulletin boards.  The laminator is also in the WAPO, although the laminator cord needs to be checked out during business hours from Kathy in the WAO, as a safety precaution. 

We even have Wampus Cat treats and Wampus Cat reading material!  :)

In the WAPO, we also have bulletin boards in a bag (BBBs). 

These are pre-made bulletin boards on a variety of topics.  To use these you take the BBB out, make a copy of it in the WAO, and put the original BBB back in the BBB folder.  Please do not remove the original BBBs from the WAPO.  Then, they will not be available for other RAs to use.  :(

In the WAPO, we make every effort to maintain a steady supply of scissors, pens, glue, glue sticks, staples and stapler, and tape.  However, sometimes these supplies mysteriously grow legs and walk out of the WAPO.  If you really need these supplies for whatever you intend to make in the WAPO, you may want to bring them with you on your way to the WAPO.

That being said, please do not remove provided supplies such as scissors, pens, glue, glue sticks, staples and stapler, and tape from the WAPO.

Please also make efforts to keep the WAPO clean, out of respect for your fellow RAs and our lovely housekeeping staff.

Also in the WAPO you will find my office. 

Who am I?  I'm Suzanne Stambaugh, your West Area Graduate Assistant, also known as your resident Lady WAGA.  

I'm a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology at UT.  This is my 6th year working for UT Housing.  This is my 4th year as the WAGA.  I also spent 2 years working as an Assistant Resident Manager at Sutherland Village Apartments.  I was an RA at my undergrad, the University of Florida, where I got my Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2005.

If any of you are interested in graduate school in psychology, I'd be glad to chat with you about my experience and answer any questions you may have!

In case you haven't noticed, I love to blog!  If you like, you can check out my personal blog here.

I love all cats, especially Wampus Cats!  My fiancé, Jared, even proposed to me by putting the engagement ring on the collar of our cat (and your Wampus Cat Mascot), Paws.

We love cats and are even going to have cat wedding cake toppers at our May 2011 wedding.  No, I'm not kidding:

 

We love cats that much!  :)

I love RA visitors, so please feel free to stop by!  I am in my office 12 hours a week.  You can view my office hours here.

You can also reach my by phone, 865-974-9511, and e-mail, sstambau@utk.edu

My office where you will pick up your reimbursement/advanced funds checks from. 

I hope this helps you feel more familiar with our West Area Offices.  Please stop by and say hello!