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!  :)

Famous Wampus Cat in our Midst!

Hess Hall RA, Aeron Glover, is embarking on an exciting entrepreneurial adventure!

mtvU and NYSE teamed up to launch Season 2 of Movers & Changers, a nationwide challenge to uncover the country’s next young entrepreneurs who want to make it big with their innovative ideas for a new business. From D.C. to Tennessee to Cornell, three finalists each believe their business idea will change the world.

University of Tennessee junior’s Aeron Glover and Kaliv Parker are finalists in this competition and have a strategic plan to ease the search for college housing in the states and abroad with their website http://www.Howstheliving.com. The site allows students to give quantitative and open ended feedback about their host family, residence hall, and apartment. They hope their site will be a student's one-stop spot for everything student housing.

The last two episodes of mtvU's "Movers & Changers" program, including the announcement of which team wins the grand prize, will be available online Dec. 15.  http://www.moversandchangers.com/

Aeron's international experiences in Europe and China and his nearly two years as a resident assistant helped him realize the need for reliable, student produced housing information for studying at universities in the United States and around the world.

Howstheliving.com is very impressive!  You should definitely check it out!

Way to go, Aeron!   

West Side RA of the Month for November - Vincent Charlow

Congratulations to RA Vincent Charlow of Hess Hall for being selected as the West Side RA of the Month for November!

Let's here what Vincent's nominators, the Hess Hall Head Staff, had to say about why Vincent is deserving of this honor:

As a head staff we have decided to nominate Vincent Charlow as RA of the Month for October. Vincent has done an excellent job all year, but he really showed us why he was such a great choice for our staff in October. The month of October started off with the flood on K 4. Vincent was one of the first RAs to report to the floor and made one of the first attempts at plugging the sprinkler. Due to an equipment malfunction he was unsuccessful; however he knew exactly what to do and responded accordingly. Once he completed his attempts at plugging the sprinkler, Vincent was very instrumental in clear the 4th and 3rd floors of the K section. Finally, Vincent was the one who identified the two students that were responsible for the flood which allowed us as a head staff to hold those students responsible.



For some reason Vincent has been called to respond to several very sensitive student situations. In October he responded to a situation that required the utmost care, and he handled it with grace and maturity. Especially considering that the student that was involved was in serious need of help and attention. Vincent stepped in, made the right calls, and got the student the necessary help and kept a cool head through it all.


Finally what was most notable about Vincent in the month of October was his organization of the program “Two Hands, One Sandwich”. Vincent organized this program to help Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries. Vincent petitioned URHC for funding to get enough bread, meat, cheese, peanut butter, and jelly to make over 400 sandwiches to feed the homeless here in Knoxville through KARM. He set up a table in the lobby, provided hand sanitizer and gloves, and encouraged residents to stop and make one sandwich. Vincent set up the program to last from 10 am to 3 pm, but due to the overwhelming response all the sandwiches were completed by 1:45pm. “Two Hands, One Sandwich” was an amazing program that made a difference not only in the lives of our residents but 400 homeless people around the city of Knoxville.

For these reasons, and many more, we feel that Vincent is more than deserving of this honor and we nominate him without reservation for Area RA of the Month!

Here are the other awesome West Side RAs nominated for RA of the Month in November:
Beka Patton - South Carrick
Megan Cusick - Humes
Tyrone Beach - Morrill

Way to go Vincent, Beka, Megan, and Tyrone!!!! 

Hess Program - Two Hands, One Sandwich

On Thursday, October 28th, Hess Hall hosted a fantastic program entitled "Two Hands, One Sandwich."  Hess RA Vincent Charlow planned and coordinated this program.  Several Hess RAs and Head Staff stopped by throughout the program to support and help out. 

Residents passing through the lobby were offered the opportunity to make sandwiches that would be distributed to homeless individuals through Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries.  This program was well publicized and held in a well chosen location, the Hess Hall Lobby, that allowed a lot of residents to participate.

Many residents stopped by and lots of sandwiches were made!

Oh no, is that Fainting Goat Jeannie Hopper in this photo?!  Love how the Hess Staff is able to "reach across the aisle" and work side-by-side with a Fainting Goat in the interest of helping others.

So many sandwiches!

This program was a wonderful way to engage residents in helping out members of the Knoxville community.

Excellent job, Vincent!  :)

Hess Hall Pizza Tailgate Program

The Hess Hall Council (HHC) hosted a great Pizza Tailgate Program on Saturday, September 4th!

There was good attendance at this program and fun was had by all!

Coordinating your programs with big campus events, such as football games, is a great way to get a good turn out and help your residents connect with what's happening on campus.  HHC did good work advertising for this event and putting up festive decorations to attract people to the program!  They also hosted this program in the Hess Courtyard, a high-traffic area guaranteed to get lots of visitors.

Way to go, Hess!