February’s Bring your Best ARA

Every day it is important to recognize the amazing people and things that happen. For ARA, this happens in a large way once every month. At the first ARA meeting of every month, the best of the best are chosen for the Bring Your Best competition. Every month, one Resident Assistant, one bulletin board, and one program are chosen and then recognized for being the best.

For the month of February, the RA chosen to be recognized was Alli, an RA in the Wellers/Knilans Complex. Alli was chosen because the extreme dedication she showed in many ways during the month. Alli has always gone above and beyond to be an integral part of the community she created on her floor. One specific way Alli has done this is through her creative programming methods. Alli planned all of her programs for the semester and has them posted on her floor so that her residents are able to plan ahead. Last month, Alli scheduled one-on-one time with every resident on her side of the floor, and used that time to dig a little deeper and learn a little more about her residents. She also helped every resident write goals and ways to reach those goals. Alli is an absolutely wonderful asset to the RA family and she definitely deserved the recognition she is receiving! Yay Alli!

For the month of February, the bulletin board chosen to be recognized was a body image bulletin board created by Renee, a Wells East RA. The bulletin board, titled The Ugly Truth About Beauty, displayed magazine pictures of what media believes and conveys as beauty to magazine readers. On top of the pictures, Renee posted facts and statistics about eating disorders and the price of beauty. February is Eating Disorders Awareness Month, so this bulletin board provided Renee a perfect outlet to spread the word about the disease that could potentially affect someone on her floor. This bulletin board was super educational, but in a very fun and interesting way! Way to go Renee!

Finally, for the program of the month for February, ARA decided to recognize Starin for the Dodge ball Tournament they had. RA Olivia started this event by creating publicity to promote the event. To make this event successful, the RAs of Starin had to do a lot of recruiting! All of their work paid off because they were able to recruit enough residents to create two teams! Both teams wore black attire and played tough! When their team wasn’t playing, the “resting” team cheered on their fellow Starin residents. Both teams did very well by progressing to the second day of the tournament, but really the best part about this program was the support and spirit the residents were able to show. This event proved the amazing community that Starin Hall has and that is what truly made this the best program for February. Nice Job Starin!

There were many amazing submissions for February’s Bring Your Best, but the above three definitely take the cake! Hopefully, next month will bring even more amazing RAs, bulletin boards, and programs.

Brought to you by Jenny Gruber