Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928

RHA participates in Illinois-wide conference

 

By Utsav Gandhi
CAMPUS EDITOR

Aiming to get residents more involved
in creating a positive living environment, the
Residence Hall Association (RHA) attended
the third Illinois RHA (IRHA) Conference at
DePaul University in Chicago, and came back
enlightened, entertained and transformed.
More importantly, they came back after Wendi
ing some unforgettable time with other campus
contingents, and are now raring to go apply the
skills and values learnt at theconference to try
and create a fun residential experience. Utsav
Gandhi interviews two RHA Exec Members,
Russel Houser and Madhushree Ghosh.

1. The theme last year was ‘students
by day, leaders by night’. What was the theme
this year? How was it profiled and marketed
across the conference? How did the IIT delega-
tion respond to the theme while preparing for
the conference?

This year, the theme was ‘Rock n
Roll? The conference did a pretty good job
in promoting this theme by providing cool
booklets detailing the conference scheduling
and bringing out Rock Band games for any,
one to play, but I think the theme was more
influenced by the various RHA chapters them,
selves! It seemed like the IRHA exec board
this year had a more handsioff approach to
promoting their theme as to allow other c017
leges to show ofi’ their IRHA spirit through
displays, banners, and roll call performances
One particularly unique feature of this year’s
conference was the opportunity for delegates
to keep posting on Twitter about their IRHA
experience as part of a competition!

2. What are your thoughts about the
host’s campus and their RHA as a visitor?

I must say that I was extremely imi

 

pressed with the way the Residence Hall Coun7
cil at DePaul had managed the IRHA confer,
ence! There were a couple of hosts whom I
actually had first met at the IRHA 2011 con,
ference, where I found out that their RHC is
quite involved on campus DePaul University
is located closer on the North side of Chicago,
and the campus size is much larger than that of
HT Also, even though I haven’t encountered
a college with as diverse of a student popula7
tion as IIT, it seemed like the university still
had a strong ethic with promoting diversity on
campus I could tell that the RHC of DePaul
was very passionate about the work that they
do through their own university values, and I
respect them for hosting IRHA over the week,
end!

3. What are your thoughts about
other school contingents? Were they different
or similar in any way to IIT’s contingent? Any-
thing you especially wish to highlight about the
IIT contingent?

As a returning participant of IRHA,
I’ve noticed that once you participate in IRHA,
virtually anyone can start getting excited about
their school and be filled with school spirit
I’ve seen some impressive displays of school
spirit from all of the colleges that participated,
including our own!

About 10 schools had participated in
the conference Some universities like Eastern
Illinois University, Western Illinois University,
and DePaul University have been longtime
veterans of IRHA and have even competed on
the regional and national levels! Other schools
such as Millikin College and St! Xavier Univer7
sity are newer on the IRHA scene and are pare
ticipating more for the fun of itlreven though
that’s what everyone is also there for I’d say
that IIT lies somewhere in the middle in terms
of experience! Our chapter has been involved

for several years now, and we’ve brought home
awards each year This year, both of our pro,
grams were placed in the Top 10 Programs!

If there is anything that particu7
larly highlights our own group from the oth
ers, I believe it’s our incredible creativity Not
to mention that fact that we are an incredibly
diverse group! Throughout the conference, I
think we had easily adjusted to the IRHA scene
and started making up our own displays of
school spirit on the spot!

4. What did you do at IRHA? What
workshops did you attend and how does the del-
egation aim to enrich the IIT residential com-
munity with this new knowledge?

Basically, we first arrived at DePaul
University with our banner, display, and some
extra materials we used for item donations
After checking our group in and submitting
the banner and display, we soon joined other
schools for some general IRHA group cheers
Afterwards, we received a welcome speech
from the IRHA Executive Board and advisors,
and then competed against other schools with
the roll call that we came up with!

On the CC side of things, the roll
call is the only delegation activity that hapi
pens Soon after, the boardroom gets set up
and serious business pertaining to residence
halls’ activities, bids, awards and plans for the
next conference is undertaken! The entire two
days is spent in the boardroom discussing,
facilitating the agenda for a successfiil confer,
ence every year There were a couple of other
meetings before the actual conference for the
CC, namely the semiiannual business meeting
and the winter business meeting where prepai
ratory discussions and decisions are made for
the conference! A goal of the conference is to
facilitate community spirit and love for your
own residence halls and after the conference,

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getting IIT more involved and bringing about
positive changes are our new found goals

5. Were there any costs associated
with the trip? How were they met? Did you do
any fundrasiers? How did the delegation bond
before the trip?

Yes, registration for each delegate
had cost approximately $100,150! We had
fundraisers last year, but that was meant for
purchasing supplies as a part of competing in
the Philanthropy section of IRHA! RHA had
provided funding for the actual costs of regisi
tration! This year, we had established a book
drive, where an empty box was placed on each
residence hall front desk on campus Students
could place any books inside the boxes, and we
ended up collecting over 100 books in the end!

Most of our delegation had already
known each other, since we were a part of the
RHA executive board! For the new additions, it
was the group activities including the roll call,
programs, and all the preparations that helped
us bond better Here we would like to mention
that our advisors helped a great deal in keeping
us together throughout the process, ensuring
we get everything done and continue to work
as a group! Not to mention that it was only a
matter of time that teamwork and excitement
for the conference took over! Also for most of
the delegation, it was their first time going to
IRHA, but we all had quickly joined in the fun
once we all knew what was going on!

6. Is there a National conference?
When/where/will IIT send a delegation and who
can apply to go?

Right now, there is an annual nation,
a1 RHA conference which is open to colleges
and universities across the nation and is pro,
grammed in a similar fashion to IRHA! This
conference is known as NACURH (National
Association of College and University Resi

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Photo by Utsav Gandhi