West Side RA of the Month for March - Brittany Williams

Congratulations to Humes RA, Brittany Williams, on being West Area RA of the Month for March!

Let's hear what Brittany's nominator, Humes Hall Director Ashley Williams-Bond, had to say about her:

Brittany is one of the first year RAs on the Humes staff but she is definitely one of the more vocal ones. She has really stepped up during the month of March in helping take the lead on some of the larger building wide initiatives. She was instrumental in helping with the RAs alcohol/drug program of the semester “Club Humes Presents: Thirsty Thursday.” Because of the success of this program she has already began planning for an end of the year building wide event for the residents. Brittany has also taken the lead on setting up the intramural softball team for this season. She gathered all the info and within a week had enough people signed up to have 2 separate teams. She kept pushing and reminding people and actual got them excited to play. Brittany has also stepped up on her staff committee and is working on community service opportunities for our staff and residents to close out the end of the year fueled further by her participation in the ASB trip 2011.

Brittany has an easy-going personality that her residents and staff love but she is also a person they know they can depend on to get things done and remain calm under pressure. Brittany is a good role model for her residents and continuing to do great things in her RA position.

One of Brittany's bulletin boards.

One of Brittany's door decs.

Awesome publicity Brittany created for Thirsty Thursday program.

The other awesome RA nominated in March was Courtney Luna of South Carrick!

Way to go, Brittany and Courtney!

Hess Hall Caribbean Cook-Off

Hess hosted a Caribbean Cook-Off program on Wednesday, March 9th.  This program had awesome attendance and featured some amazing food!  Over 100 people participated and $100 was raised for the St. Lucia Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities.  Hess RAs Dadrien Barnes, Matthew Moore, and Stephanie Pierce coordinated with Hess Hall Council to host this program.  

This program featured a Caribbean cooking competition.  Vincent Charlow's Cooking Team took first place!  On this team were Jessica Newsom, Alexia Greene, Cep Rice, Jasmine Milligan, & Simone Jones.  Stephanie Pierce's Cooking Team had Shafer Belisle, Aeron Glover, Matt Moore, & Cedric Brown.  Dadrien Barnes' Cooking Team had Heather Thomasson, Angela Frantz, Martin Binhammer, & Kamilah Mull.

Way to go, Hess!  :)  What a fantastic program!

West Side RA of the Month for February - Dadrien Barnes

Congratulations to Hess Hall RA, Dadrien Barnes, for being selected as the West Side RA of the Month for February!

Dadrien Barnes - Hess Hall RA

Let's hear what the Hess Hall Head Staff had to say about how great Dadrien is:

As a head staff we have elected to nominate Dadrien Barnes as RA of the month for February for his exceptional performance in programming for the month of February. Dadrien is by far one of the best programmers we have had the opportunity to work with. He consistently comes up with great ideas that bring not only his floor, but the entire Hess Hall community together.



On February 9th, under the leadership of Dadrien, the staff held the second annual Hess Hall Globetrotters event. The purpose of this event was to educate the residents of Hess Hall on different areas around the country and most importantly to give them information about studying abroad. The Study Abroad office was present at the program and was afforded the opportunity to talk with many residents about their program. The RAs took different regions from around the country and made boards with information about those regions and cooked food from those regions. The program was a success and once again made an impact on our hall community.


At the end of the month Dadrien began working with Hess Hall Council to plan Caribbean Week for the March 7th through March 10th. I mention this because while the program is happening in March, much of the leg work for the program took place in February. Dadrien put together several proposals and presented them to HHC originally just wanting to have one main program, the Caribbean Cook-off. Once HHC saw what Dadrien wanted to do, they got so excited and asked if they could expand the program to a week. Dadrien talked through several ideas with the group and eventually came up with the Caribbean Week lineup. Dadrien came up with all the posters and advertisements and worked with UCopy to get them printed. His organization and creative talent has added a lot to the Hess community.


Finally Dadrien has been a great advocate to HHC. He noticed that the council needed for more items for checkout. Dadrien without being promoted approached the president of HHC and let her know his ideas for purchasing items. He got approval from the president to purchase the items, went and got the items with his own money, brought the items back to Hess and cataloged them all. Dadrien has done great things for Hess in the month of February and for that reason we recommend him for Area RA of the Month.

Other awesome RAs nominated in February include:
Carrie Underwood - Humes
Kelsey McCoy - Morrill
Austin Dillon - North Carrick
Drew Griggs - Reese
Julie Nabors - South Carrick
 
Congratulations to Dadrien, Carrie, Kelsey, Austin, Drew, & Julie!  :)

Carrick Program - Spring Break Bash!

On Wednesday, March 2nd, South Carrick RA Mia Mitchell and North Carrick RA Elijah Lightfoot put on a substance abuse education program called Spring Break Bash in the South Carrick TV Lounge.  North and South Carrick residents enjoyed non-alcoholic margaritas and strawberry daiquiris.  Each drink was served with educational alcohol awareness facts. 

South Carrick RA Mia Mitchell making non-alcoholic drinks.

North Carrick RA Elijah Lightfoot pouring fellow North Carrick RA Jonathan Leach a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri.

North Carrick RAs Jonathan Leach and Elijah Lightfoot interacting with residents.

North Carrick RA Brandon Woodmancy hanging out with a resident.

North Carrick AHD Alex Merchant enjoying a non-alcoholic margarita.

The goals of this program were to encourage residents to engage in safe and healthy lifestyles, develop personal and social skills with one another, and link them with their floors.

Alcohol fact sheet distributed with the non-alcoholic drinks.

After enjoying their beverages and learning about alcohol facts, everyone walked over to HYPER together to go rock climbing on the rock climbing wall.

Great job, Mia and Elijah!

Morrill Hall Acoustic Night - Duet Again!

Morrill RAs and MHRA hosted their 2nd Acoustic Night program of the year on Thursday, February 24th.  Their first Acoustic Night of this year was in the fall semester.  There were 2 Morrill Acoustic Night programs during the 2009-2010 academic year as well.  Morrill Acoustic Nights always seem to feature an impressive array of musical talent amongst the performers.  At Thursday's Acoustic Night, some residents' parents even attended the event to watch their sons and daughters perform!  Food and door prizes were available for all who attended.  Even yours truly won 2 coupons for Ober Gatlinburg!  $5 per person was charged at the door to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.  Over $200 was raised for Habitat! 

Morrill AHD Lindzy Conley, RA Kate Whitehead, and RA Sara Knoll.

Morrill RAs Thad Cole and Sarah Gregory showcasing their musical talents.  My apologies for the poor picture quality.  The room's lighting was dim to set the relaxed atmosphere. 

Morrill RA Tyrone Beach was the DJ.  Here he is drawing a name for a door prize.

Residents performing.

Residents performing.

Great publicity in the Morrill lobby!

Acoustic Night was even featured in the Tennessee Journalist!  Great job Morrill!  What an awesome program that has become a wonderful tradition in Morrill.