The Fainting Goat Gazette

Apartments Residence Hall (Rotation #3)

2012-02-27T22:00:00.012-05:00

ARH Diversity Committee hosted a program for Black History Month called "Dinner with a Doc!" They invited Dr. Amadou Sall from Africana Studies Program as their guest speaker. The wonderful RAs who made this program possible were Akshitha Yarrabothula, Brandon Hall, Curt Holmes, Brett Price, and Rachel Shenkman. Below is a picture of the RAs with Dr. Sall.Akshitha and Rachel announcing their program on the intercom. Dr. Sall talked about some of the Civil Rights movements that have helped to shape America as we now know it! He also discussed African identity. In this picture Dr. Sall was describing African clothing. This hat is so cute.
Residents started joining the presentation. And more residents. These two wonderful ladies (Djena and Diamy) were Rachel's friends who cooked food for the residents. The food was from Mali (West Africa). Rice with vegetables.Chicken dish.Another chicken dish with peanut sauce....yummy :)Plain rice.Dinner time. Residents sitting down and enjoying their dinner. Great job Akshitha, Rachel, Brandon, Brett, and Curt! I was very impressed by residents attendance. As we all know, educational program especially presentation can be challenging to get residents involved. However, this was a successful program.

Special thanks to Dr. Sall for the wonderful presentation and Djena & Diamy who presented us with Malian cuisine. Also, thanks to AHD Brian Samble to help the RAs with the program.
NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Hunter Siler, RA of the Month: January

2012-02-17T08:22:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Hunter Siler for being named the East/Apartments Area RA of the Month for January! Hunter, a 3rd year RA in Massey Hall, is a first year graduate student studying History Education. Hunter has been splitting his time between Massey Hall, classes, and student teaching at a local school all year and has managed to achieve a 4.0 gpa while also going above and beyond in his job duties in Massey. That is an extremely impressive feat for any RA, and Hunter does it seemingly without stress.

In the month of January, Hunter implemented a TON of great social programs including a trip to I-Hop, an Ultimate Frisbee team, a poker night, a floor painting party, and a Welcome Back Ribs night. He also organized a building-wide educational program called "Spread the Word to End the Word" that highlighted the meaning behind words commonly used by students that are considered derogatory or discriminatory. Hunter is not only a stellar programmer, though. He cares about his residents and the community of Massey Hall. When one of his residents withdrew from school after the death of a close family member, Hunter drove to the funeral to be there for the student. He handled a very tense student drug-related incident with firmness and compassion, and he also was involved in documenting a 16-person party. Needless to say, it was a full month for Hunter.

Massey Hall Director Kristina Klamm says, "Hunter is a leader on the Massey staff in student interactions, programs, and assistance with policy enforcement. It is evident when you walk his hall that his residents look up to him and respect him. He puts a considerable amount of time, energy, and effort into his community. We are very thankful to have the leadership and experience of Hunter on our staff in Massey!" Hunter, you are a model for us all in the amount you give to your students. Congratulations and great work!!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Massey Hall Program (Rotation #3)

2012-02-06T10:00:00.012-05:00

Kyle White, Stephanie Pierce, Brooke Terry, and Andrew LaHaie hosted "Pants Off, Dance Off" program. They advertised this program very well. This sign is my favorite one...try to read it :)))))
Another sign.......remember the more signs you post, the better attendance you will get for your program. There were two TVs in the lobby playing "Just Dance 3". As I walked in, I saw many residents gathered in the lobby. Brooke, Andrew, and Stephanie dancing with a resident.
Other games were provided such as "twister game" and "Apples to Apples".Here are more pictures of people dancing...Some people were shy to dance so they were just watching others. When it comes to dancing, video is better than picture. So here are a couple of videos for you to watch.

Great job Kyle, Stephanie, Brooke, and Andrew! This was a fun program and I was pleased to see many residents attended. Definitely a success!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Incentives and Gratitude

2012-02-03T10:51:00.005-05:00

So, you guys are amazing, and we in the area office want to remember to recognize that fact on a regular basis. We have come up with two new ways to say "thank you" to our fabulous area RAs.

We have a new "Goat Gratitude" board posted in our hallway. It is simple. You take a slip of paper and write down a thank you or a shout out to someone who has done a great job - on a program, covering a shift, lending a helping hand, etc. I hope to see the entire board full of gratitude soon. Be sure to check it often to see if your own name is posted!
Mona and I are starting a drawing for an area RA to win a free bulletin board! Simply drop off a sample door dec (with your name and hall on it somewhere) in our box in Mona's office. We will draw one out at random on March 2nd and that person (or persons - who knows how many we will do), will have a BB completed for their floor by me and Mona for either March or April - your choice. Thanks to Ms. Amy for making the fun submission box!

This is also great because Mona has made some really wonderful binders of stellar door decs from the past that can serve as sources of inspiration for you all. We will add the best door decs from our drawing to the binders!So, come on down to the area office and post a Goat Gratitude shout out and drop off a door dec to enter yourself in the free BB drawing!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Vol Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2012-01-30T18:42:00.000-05:00

Winston Love hosted a program for his residents called "Ramen Tasting Expo". Here is a picture of Winston cooking Ramen Noodles.Here is the advertisement flyer. He provided these slides to his residents. There is a website that shows 100 recipes using Ramen Noodles. Noodles....Noodles...and more Noodles! Of course, I tried to help with cooking! It is always about team work :) In the process of cooking. Winston made egg drop soup using Ramen Noodles. Yummy! Showing off their food! A group picture :) Great job Winston! Keep up the great work!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Gibbs Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2012-01-23T16:42:00.025-05:00

Adeleya Ademola, Jack Parker, Jameson O'Neal, and Lee Bogitsh hosted "Rave in the Rec" program for Gibbs Hall residents.

Here are a couple of pictures of their program's signs.

The music was awesome.

Different punch flavors.........but not for drinking............for punch pong ;)

They provided Pizza for dinner.

Let's get this party started...

They had a good turn out. As you can see in these pictures, residents were enjoying their time.

Winners vs Losers :)Great job Adeleya, Jack, Jameson, and Lee! Keep up the wonderful work!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Top 10 Reasons to be an RA!

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

RA Recruitment wraps up today, and we are on pace to continue our amazing legacy of huge candidate numbers once again. I hope you all realize how special our RA program is here at UT - interest numbers are not this high on other campuses and RA jobs are not as coveted. And why are students falling over themselves to become RAs? Sure, the money is good, having a nice room is cool, and being a student leader is a huge honor. But most candidates hands down say that they simply want to be as amazing as their own RA was to them.

During Opening, I went around and took photos of the Top Ten boards you all created for RA Recruitment. I was impressed, as I always am, at your creativity. I also think it is cool how you can see the personality of the hall in the list. I was tempted to post the photos without labels to see if you can guess which displays belong to which halls in our area. Before I get to those, though, I wanted to share my own Top Ten List that I created. I was an RA for three years, and AHD for two, an HD for three, and am in my fourth year in the Area Office. I hope you agree with what I have come up with!

Top Ten Reasons to be an RA:

10. More t-shirts than you will ever need in your lifetime. My mother in-law recently made me a quilt out of all of my housing t-shirts. I had 10 years of Camp Rocky Top shirts, floor shirts, staff shirts, hall association shirts, intramural champion shirts, intramural softball and football team shirts, SGA campaign shirts, etc. That quilt is so big it can cover my queen sized bed twice with room to spare.
9. More embarrassing moments than you will ever need in your lifetime. Lip Sync videos, RA recruitment photos, falling down the stairs on hallwalks (yes, I did this - multiple times), dressing up for programs, acting like a crazy person in skits at training... the list goes on.
8. Developing strong work and problem-solving skills. This is the funnest job you will ever have, and usually the work doesn't even feel like work. But, when it comes time for you to job search you will be amazed at how impressed employers are that you can keep your head in an emergency, start a conversation with anyone anywhere, and have tons of presentation (programming) experience under your belt.
7. Never a lonely day or night in sight. I remember being so excited about getting my own room as a first-year RA. I always shared with my sister growing up, so this was the first time I would be an independent gal. Oh how silly I was. Never a day went by that residents were not walking right into my room, hanging out every night on my floor, or waiting for me when I got home from class - and I LOVED it.
6. Money, Money, Money! Let's be honest, we love the job but most of us could not do it for free. My RA job gave me the financial support I needed to stay at UT since my parents could not afford to send me (and HOPE did not exist back then). I will forever credit my RA salary for getting me through school.
5. Convenience. When will you ever have the opportunity to live where you work again? Sometimes it creates a hard balancing act, but most of the time it is just awesome. You can literally wake up 5 minutes before your Saturday morning shift and not be late! You cannot beat that!
4. Creating a sense of purpose. Before I got my RA job, my entire college experience revolved around my boyfriend from high school (yuck), my classes, and my handful of friends from my hometown. Once I was hired as an RA (thank you alternate pool!), everything changed. I was suddenly an active part of a huge, thriving campus culture. I gained the confidence to run for SGA and win, I became active in other organizations, and I began to care more about UT, the student body, and myself.
3. Getting paid for being creative. Not many jobs let you go crazy and plan 80's dance parties in your basement. Not many jobs allow you to decorate with floor to ceiling Halloween scenes or string holiday lights and garland all over the place. Not many jobs encourage the use of glitter, music, costumes, and imagination on a daily basis. The RA job not only allows these things, it provides you the resources and money to make it happen every day.
2. Forming friendships, bonds, and mentoring relationships that will last a lifetime. One of the bridesmaids at my wedding was a fellow RA, and another of my bridesmaids was a former resident from my very first floor as an RA. One is godmother to my son, and I am godmother to the other's daughter. I still talk to my old Hall Directors from when I was a student, and I keep in touch with all of the RAs from my former staffs - many of whom are now housing professionals at other campuses.
1. Making a difference in the lives of the students on your floor. It may seem silly to say it out loud, but you really do make a difference and even save lives. How many of you have responded when students needed medical attention? How many students have you counseled to stay in school? How many residents have you comforted through a breakup, the death of a parent, bad news from home, a bad grade in class, or simply a bad day? How many students have had someone to turn to because YOU were there?

Laurel:ARH (a sampling, since they did one on each floor):Gibbs:Clement:Volunteer:Massey:Congrats on another successful recruitment season and I hope you all enjoy meeting and interviewing your potential new co-workers!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Apartments Residence Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2012-01-16T09:00:00.046-05:00

ARH's Diversity Committee hosted an educational program called "Trivia Night: German Edition." The advisor for this committee was Jason Lynch. The RAs who made this program a success were Lashonna Willis, Brett Price, Kyle Brown, Curt Holmes, and Brandon Hall.Below is a picture of their sign. They hosted this program during the week of "Around the World" program since they had Germany as their country.Residents were in groups to answer the trivia questions about Germany. Here are some pictures of ARH's residents. The committee also provided wings and drinks.Dinner time :)Eating and socializing :) Calculation time! Prizes :)And here are the winners. As part of their Around the World decoration, they made the Berlin Wall (the rise of the Berlin Wall).And here is the fall of the Berlin Wall.Wonderful job everyone! I was very pleased to see the high attendance of residents. Everything was just great!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Muzammel Rizvi: RA of the Month, December

2012-01-13T15:23:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Muzammel "Muzzie" Rizvi for being named the RA of the Month for December in the East/Apartments Area! Muzzie is a first-year RA in Gibbs Hall, and he made a tremendous impact in a month when most other RAs were enjoying quite a bit of time off. Muzzie, a sophomore, is currently an undecided major but plans to declare his major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with an Education minor. Whew! Muzzie hopes to attend Dental School after graduating from UT. Since joining the Gibbs Hall staff in August, Muzzie has done an exceptional job working with both his fellow RAs and the Gibbs students. In the month of December in particular, Muzzie created a great bulletin board with a "Survivor" theme that provided students with information on how to survive finals both academically and personally.

More importantly, though, Muzzie gave of his personal time to work during the Winter Break. During the holiday, Muzzie covered a staggering 17 shifts - time that had he not worked, another RA would have been forced to stay behind and cover. Ever the volunteer and gentleman, Muzzie was happy to step up so that his fellow staff members could go home. Gibbs Hall did close for 2 days on December 24 and 25th, and Muzzie was the one who secured the building and effectively both closed and opened Gibbs Hall on his own (well, with a bit of help from Apts AHD Brian Samble, who is also a Winter Break superstar). Working over the break was not a breeze, as Muzzie and fellow fabulous volunteer RA Trai Swaney checked in several new student athletes who arrived early for their sport and orientation. Gibbs Hall Director Josh Boehm sums it up nicely when he says, "I know I can always count on Muzzie to go the extra mile for his residents and any other student of Gibbs Hall." Great work, Muzzie! We are so proud to have you in our area!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Winter Spotlight: Laurel Hall

2011-12-08T11:44:00.021-05:00

Each year, I am floored by the amazing decorations created by the Laurel ladies. They seem to up the ante every year, and this year's offering knocked my socks off! So, without further ado, check out the lobby decorations and the individual floor offerings in Laurel:

The lobby is a literal winter wonderland with multiple trees, a gingerbread house for Jess and Becki's offices, all of Santa's reindeer, and lots of sparkles!On the floors themselves, the RAs have done a wonderful job as well. I toured right after Thanksgiving, so these photos show a mix of November and December decorations. Sorry I caught you guys during transition time!

Starting with 14, Kelly has embraced the Tri Delt community and created great decorations using the dolphin mascot and yummy cupcakes!On 13, Abby has produced some wonderful Lion King artwork and has a Disney theme throughout her floor with both her BBs and DDs.The 12th floor is lovely thanks to Simone's decorations, including large flowers, an amazing hot air balloon, and fun DDs.Meredith has created a great atmosphere on 11 with colorful DDs, fun sorority themed decor, and a BB on homemade Christmas gift ideas. On 10, Katelin has gone to great lengths to show off a variety of fun and creative BBs and DDs, including a resident spotlight BB, some really creative uses of the sorority letters in her signs, and wonderful bonus decorations.On the 9th floor, Morgan worked her magic with spray paint to create some great signs, and her green lady bug DDs are a cute twist on a classic!Hannah's 8th floor residents are loving the adorable DDs she made with the letters from their names, and her owl decorations are perfect for the floor community.Kim decided on a circle theme for the 7th floor, and she has some lovely DDs featuring the sorority pandas, as well as a BB highlighting the latest craze to hit the girls - Pinterest.On 6, Laura shows off her creativity with the signature XO owls, a great Dr. Seuss study BB, and some warm winter cheer.Lauren has a plethora of fun happening on the 5th floor, with adorably tiny DDs, a holiday BB, and plenty of study information for the ladies as they enter finals.The 4th floor is home to some pretty cute penguins designed by Kate, and some great BBs on stress relief and yummy Thanksgiving food.Ashley turned the 3rd floor into the popular "Turtle Tank" with tons of fun turtle decorations in honor of her Delta Zeta women, and her ice cream DDs were especially delightful.Megan took on the main floor with great monkey DDs, a fabulous turkey, and is responsible for two great lobby bulletin boards between her wings!As always, I am super impressed by the hard work and creativity shown in Laurel Hall. Even when I caught you between months and at the very end of the semester, I was shocked at the level of unique and fun work you each put into your floor communities. And I don't even have words for how much I adore your lobby! Great job, Laurel!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Laura Walden: RA of the Month, November

2011-12-02T14:35:00.006-05:00

Congratulations to Laura Walden for being named the East/Apartments Area RA of the Month for November! A first year RA in Laurel Hall, Laura has done an exceptional job all year with both her residents and her fellow staff members. Laura is a sophomore majoring in Psychology and Social Work, and despite dedicating much of her time to her studies, Laura is known as one of the most supportive and enthusiastic members of the staff. Laura's amazingly positive attitude is indicative of the fact that she treats the RA position as an experience, not simply a job, and she goes above and beyond to help her residents have a great experience while living in Laurel Hall.

This past month, Laura implemented a number of successful programs, including a holiday party called "Santa loves Chi Omega!" and created some amazing decorations for both her floor and the lobby (see upcoming Laurel spotlight post). Over Thanksgiving Break, Laura became aware of a resident in need and volunteered to check in on the student repeatedly and assist her by putting her counseling and QPR skills to work. Laura was never asked by staff to work with this resident, and Laura was not working nor was the resident a member of Laura's floor. She simply wanted to help, and she undoubtedly made a difference in that young lady's life. Jess Wilke, Laurel Hall Director, says, "Laura has been an incredible addition to the staff this year. Not only are her talents in the arts quite impressive, she lives life with a smile on her face every day and has found a way to share her energy, enthusiasm and positivity with staff and residents throughout the building. Great job, Laura! We are proud to have you as a stellar member of the RA team!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Massey Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2011-11-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

Two of our returner RAs, Hunter Siler and Mark Moore collaborated a program which was a trip to IHOP (off-campus).

As I walked into Massey Hall lobby, I saw many residents hanging around the lobby waiting to go to IHOP. My jaw dropped when I saw all these residents willing to come out at 11:00pm on a Thursday night to go to IHOP. Here are a few pics.

And more residents waiting...

They try to go to IHOP once a month. IHOP has a great deal which is $4.99 for all you can eat pancakes. Look at all these people who attended this program...

Table #1

Table #2

Table #3

All those people back there are with us too.

I believe around 50 people showed up. We dominated IHOP. Just imagine only one waitress is going to serve all these hungry students. Yep! Only one! She worked really hard but when they have a deal that is "all you can eat pancakes" this will take a loooooong time. Some people started playing while they were waiting for their food.

I am not sure what Scott is doing in this pic but I know he was hungry. Mark, your face is priceless!

Finally, food came out. Guess who had the most pancakes?! Well, I will let this picture below show you who.

The lovely Massey Hall Director, Kristina Klamm joined us too. She is showing off her omelet in this photo.

Yummy :)

Another food show off. His omelet looked really good.

Another pancake plate with Marquis.

Great job to Hunter Siler and Mark Moore! I have to say that I have never seen this many people attend a program specially going off-campus. Did I mention that everyone paid for their own food? All I want to know is "when is the next trip?!"

Special thanks to Kristina Klamm for joining us!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Laurel Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2011-11-21T10:00:00.004-05:00

Simone Ilia hosted a program at Laurel Hall called "Happy Fall for All!!" She is our first year RA. Below is a picture of Simone with her cute pumpkin that she carved. Please look at those ears on this pumpkin and one tooth :)
Simone notified her residents about the program via Facebook invite and made this nice sign.
She purchased these pumpkins.

Carving tools were provided.
Painting supplies.
Of course apple cider, pumpkin role, and pumpkin pie! YUMMY! Can't you feel the holiday?

Residents started joining us in the hallway and grabbed a pumpkin to carve.

Way cute!

In the process of carving.

Here is another resident.

Scary pumpkin!

Here are more residents. Everyone enjoyed drinking apple cider and sweets while carving pumpkin! It was relaxing for sure.

Great job Simone! Thanks for inviting me!
NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Around the World Domination

2011-11-18T11:07:00.013-05:00

This week marked our annual Around the World competition in the halls. We partnered with the International House for International Education Week, and the results were amazing! I am extremely pleased to say that for the second straight hall competition (Power Challenge being the first), our area snagged ALL of the awards!

Here we go:
"Italy" in Gibbs Hall "Spain" in Clement Hall "England" in Volunteer Hall 3rd Place: "Argentina" in Laurel Hall 2nd Place: "Korea" in Massey Hall 1st Place: "Germany" in ARH Great job to everyone and thank you for taking the time to educate your residents about different cultures, study abroad opportunities, and amazing advances in butcher paper construction!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Clement Hall Program (Rotation #2)

2011-11-14T17:00:00.006-05:00

Patrick Brainerd hosted a program for his residents called "Bill Cosby Sweater Journey!" Patrick asked his residents to wear their craziest Cosby quality sweater as they ventured and roamed downtown Knoxville. Below is Patrick's picture sporting his signature Cosby gear.

I stopped by his floor and could not help but spot this yellow huge sign.

This bulletin board stole my attention. October is Sweater Month??!! Although he insisted that it is, he later confessed that he made his own holiday.

His residents came down to the lobby wearing their Cosby sweaters. I am really not sure what to think about the hotdog costume back there, but for Patrick's sake, we'll count him in the total. Didn't Claire Huxtable ban Heathcliff Huxtable from eating hotdogs?!

As you should know by now, I love group pictures. So here is a picture of Patrick's residents with their Bill Cosby sweaters + the hotdog man.

Uh-oh, Claire must have discovered the hotdog. Assume the position, Heathcliff!

The Bill Cosbys meet the Gnomes.

Cosbys had dinner at the Cereal Bar in the Old City. Looking at the hotdog eating food reminds me of one of those M&M commercials for some reason...Am I the only one?

I guess the Cosbys got hungry again.

Here are more pictures around down town...

I guess Cosbys are sharing their food with the Oarsman (rowing man).

This picture concludes the Cosby Sweater Journey. Can't feel the love?

This program was about sweater, but the hot dog man stole the show and made it about FOOD! I wonder what Knoxvillians thought when they saw a gang of Cosby sweaters pillaging + a hotdog man.

Awesome program Patrick! That was one adventurous night :)

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Spooky Spotlight: Clement Hall

2011-11-11T14:03:00.019-05:00

So, this post is a wee bit late thanks to some technical issues I had, but better late than never! Luckily, Clement AHD Andrew Howard lent a helping camera phone on our hallwalk and I did indeed get some great pictures of Clement Hall decked out in some pretty amazing Halloween decor.

Starting with the boy's side, Aaron has a great safe Halloween BB and cool DDs:On 7, Coley made ghost DDs and has great diversity display for his floor:David has truly disturbing DDs depicting animals eating away at people, spooky lighting, a haunted house BB, spider webs, and a fun football display:Xavian has done a great job on the 5th floor with his witch DDs and football BB:Patrick has a fun lighting technique with the cutouts, a wonderful fridge for the residents to post their good grades (love it!), a great BB featuring Ghostbusters as a theme for solving problems on campus, and some of the most creative DDs I have seen in a while - residents faces superimposed on Bill Cosby photos - classic:Kendall has fun DDs depicting different years, great dice decorations, and awesome Power T light cutouts:On 2, Travis has hilarious breast cancer awareness BB and DDs called "save second base":Finally, Casey has some interestingly misinterpret-able DDs, a great Power T, an educational sink or swim BB, and a fun football schedule:For the ladies, Brittany starts things off on 8 with some amazing Halloween decorations, a breast cancer BB, super cute pumpkins left over from a program, and spider DDs:On the 7th floor, Jannah showcases angel/ghost DDs, a breast cancer BB (complete with an extremely thorough self-exam how-to), and a cute sign where residents can post their own game-day pictures:Nicole has some great decorations on 6 with pumpkin DDs, a bloody handprint on her mirror, a spooky tree, a howling wolf, a Halloween BB, and lots and lots of webs:Aimee has fabulous witch/owl DDs, a gross hand that tried to grab me, tons of webs, a Halloween fact BB, a light-up skull and mirror decorations, and on a lighter note, a lovely display of helpful web addresses:Allison has spooky ghosts and webs on the doors, ghost DDs, great Halloween decorations, a tree of wisdom, and a super-cute "be a treat" BB:On 3, Xee has a cute dracula, "boo" DDs, a breast cancer BB, and some great non-Halloween touches like a quote from Srubs, a fabulous quote on her mirror, and a lovely way to display hall rules:We finish with Maggie and her amazingly creative DDs, plethora of Halloween decorations, interview attire BB, love your body BB, eating disorder bonus BB, and the single grossest thing I saw in Clement - a severed finger on the water fountain that you have to press to get water - congrats, Maggie, I am officially disgusted!Great job, Clement! I so appreciate all the time, creativity, and energy you put into making your floors a fun and educational place for our students to live!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Apartments Residence Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-11-07T17:00:00.005-05:00

ARH's Lifestyle Committee hosted a program called Sustainable Art! Cathy Oler, Rachel Schenkman, Akshitha Yarrabothula, and Candice Lawton are serving on this committee and their advisor is Assistant Hall Director Brian Samble.
This is what Brian wrote to me to explain this program "Sustainable Art! will be a multi-dimensional program that not only encourages residents to engage in creative activities, but also educates them about the many facets of sustainability. We plan on checking our floor's recycling bins for materials to use to make sustainable art as well as other buildings' and even around campus. On October 20th at 7PM we will have all of the supplies we have bought and gathered in the first floor multipurpose room so that students can come down and create! We plan on incorporating tips about how expressing yourself and engaging in fun and creative activities can lead to a happier, healthier lifestyle as well as tips about sustainability, which also can lead to a better lifestyle (save money, conserve, etc.) We want each RA that can make it to come out and create some type of sustainable art, too. After residents and RAs have made all sorts of awesome sustainable art pieces, we plan on asking for art donations so that we can possibly have an art auction for Habitat for Humanity!"

Below are a few pictures of their materials that they collected from recycle bins. They also provided some fabrics, paints, etc.

Group pictures :)

People in action of making arts. Grow your beard! This resident made a door hanger.This resident made a bird. The bird looked scary a bit. A piece of mirror was decorated by soda caps. It turned out gorgeous!
Brandon's paint work!
Candice made this frame and the dinosaur.
Akshitha's picture board was made out of recycling materials. How cool is this?
Here is Jason's art work! He made the vase :)
Kellie made me this heart-shaped frame. It is in my office if anyone is interested to see it ;) Thanks Kellie!
Great job everyone! Thanks to Jason, Kellie, and Brian for supporting your staff! It was a fun night for sure.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Hannah Cather: RA of the Month, October

2011-11-04T11:37:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Hannah Cather for being named the RA of the Month for October for the East/Apartments Area! Hannah, a Sophomore, is a first-year RA in Massey Hall who is majoring in Communications. In her first few months on the job, Hannah has made a huge impact on her floor and the building. On her staff, Hannah has taken on the huge roles of helping to organize both the Power Challenge and Habitat for Humanity fund raising efforts. Massey Hall placed 3rd in the Power Challenge, so I would say her efforts were a success! For Habitat, she is still going strong with ideas, but recently she organized a bake sale that raised almost $100 toward the building goal. Hannah is also the building's RA Council representative. Having someone on staff who is happy to step up to do these initiatives is huge, and Hannah's willingness to fill multiple roles is wonderful!

On her floor, Hannah has implemented some really creative programming, and she has seen a very strong community form in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, Hannah has also had to deal with some unusual and difficult resident issues on her floor as well. Despite the trying nature of these events, Hannah has maintained a positive attitude and has managed to keep her residents engaged and happy on their floor community. Massey Hall Director Kristina Klamm states, "Hannah is an incredible RA. She has had to deal with things on her floor that I would never even imagine an RA having to face, and she has done it with a great attitude. She is a strong RA in every aspect of the job and her fellow staff members love having her as a part of their team." Wonderful job, Hannah! We appreciate everything you do!! Keep it up!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Massey Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-10-31T17:00:00.001-04:00

Betty Hong at Massey Hall held a Halloween Decoration program for her residents.

When I stopped by her floor, her residents started decorating. They seemed that they are having fun and enjoying the decoration project. There were two cute kids there too :)

Here are more pictures of residents in action...

I love the creativity.

SPOOKY!

Awesome ghost finger prints! This one creeped me out a bit.

Here it comes FREDDY!

Danger Zone: stay away from the Zombies!

Here is a picture of all the people who made Betty's floor spooky for Halloween!

Great job everyone! A special shout out to Betty for involving her residents. It is cool to see residents participate in community building!

NO GOAT, NO GLORY!

Campus Chest

2011-10-28T13:23:00.000-04:00

I want to thank you all for your annual donation to the Campus Chest campaign. I was unfortunately unable to be there to see you all on Tuesday night, but in counting and recording the donations, I was once again humbled by the level of generosity shown by our student staff. At this time when I am still missing several cards, we have donated almost $5,000 as an area. That is something to be proud of. Both Clement and Laurel Halls exceeded their totals from last year. Both Clement and Gibbs had 100% of their RA/head staffs donate. Way to go!

I am including a little photo of my kids here because 1) they are adorable and I want to show them off any chance I get but also 2) my son Jeremy has benefited directly from the generosity of people like you through campaigns like this. Those of you who have been on staff a few years have heard this before, but Jeremy was diagnosed with a speech disorder, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, before he turned 2 years old. It is a pretty serious condition and we were cautioned that he may never speak, or speak very poorly, for the rest of his life. My husband and I refused to accept those options and chose to fight back with any resources we could find. Thanks to United Way and the state of Tennessee Early Intervention Services, we were able to get him 3 personal therapists to work with his motor, speech, and social problems.After two years of therapy, he is considered to be a huge success story. I could never have afforded the level of care he received on my own, and I owe his bright future to people just like you who care enough to help others in need. Thank you for continuing to be amazing both inside and outside the job!!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Gibbs Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-10-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

Gibbs Hall hosted a tour to the Neyland Stadium for their residents. This program was a collaboration between three RAs John Baldwin, Robert Partee, and Muzammel Rizvi.

They advertised their program very well with large signs and flyers. I love this flyer (below). Nice job boys! They also recruited their residents to join us as we were waiting in the lobby.

We all met in the lobby and started walking toward the stadium. It was definitely a nice weather.

As you can see below, they had a great residents' attendance.

Our tour guide started showing us around as you can see in the pics below...

We couldn't go into the field but we were able to take some nice pics.

Here is the field!

The Locker Room! It was very nice and clean.

The Press Room!

I love the orange chairs.

The gentleman in the middle was our tour guide. Can't remember his name :( He was very nice and people enjoyed the tour.

This is a picture that I took when we were walking back to Gibbs Hall. Look at this beautiful football stadium. GO VOLS!

Great job John, Robert, and Muzzi!

Special thanks to Jerry Adams for organizing the tour! Also, thanks to Josh Boehm for attending to support this program.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

October Spotlight: Volunteer Hall

2011-10-14T14:09:00.019-04:00

For this spotlight, I am excited to showcase the amazing work done by the Volunteer Hall staff. They have the most wall space to cover and they do a pretty fantastic job making those hallways look fresh and fun.

We start on the 12th floor with Rainer, who has a great informational BB about getting enough sleep:His DDs are camera-themed:He has a great travel/study abroad BB:And he created a bonus BB with this display of the ugliest cars, which I thought was hilarious:Also on the 12th floor, Spenser has a BB dedicated to facts about Halloween:A BB about study abroad opportunities:DDs centered around transportation:And great quotes up and down the hallway that add some fun to your walk to the elevator:I will start my description of the 11th floor by saying that it is one of the most creative guy's floors I have seen in a long time, and that is a credit to both of the RAs, Chris and Clint, who have gone above and beyond in their floor decor. Chris is first with a great roommate BB:He also has these wonderful painted music-themed quotes up and down the floors:Chris also has a safe-sex BB:And he completes his music-themed floor with random music trivia questions:At the other end of the 11th floor, Clint has created an oasis for his guys:With CD DDs:Fun "famous last words" quotes up and down the hallways:And a great "things to do before you graduate" BB:On the 10th floor, Laura took a walk on the wild side with her DDs:She has an animal kingdom BB:Her recycling BB is wonderful (despite the slight spelling error):Laura also has some great quotes up on the floor to complete her overall atmosphere:Also on 10, Angela has a fabulous recycling BB as well and I adore the 3-D effect she brings into many of her floor elements:Her DDs are beyond creative, with a Little Mermaid themed oyster, amazing little teacups, and each apartment has been given a Harry Potter house:Her BB shows how she knew which Hogwarts House each apartment fell into (that is one impressive Sorting Hat):Angela also showcased the hall rules in a very creative way (great border):And she shows that Ms. Pac Man is quite a good spokesman for breast health:On the 9th floor, Kara has an appropriately hilarious breast cancer awareness BB:A beautiful fall inspiration poster:A very informative UT Traditions BB:And super cute DDs with both girlie and school-spirited touches:Also on 9, Julia took a fairytale approach with her frog prince DDs:She also has some great painted signs/fairytale castles to liven up her hallways:And her quotes are a nice touch to keep the walls interesting:Nia has transformed the 8th floor with her incredibly complicated DDs:A breast cancer BB and creative sign in the shape of the cancer ribbon:A Girls Just Wanna Have Fun BB:And a Marilyn Monroe themed lounge area:Also on 8, Jennifer continues the building effort to educate students about breast cancer:She has lovely flowery DDs:And her October BB is a great way to keep residents informed of what is going on:Brianna has a fun honeybee theme on 7 with her BB:And these DDs that showcase both the honeycomb and the little pots of honey:Her notebook paper BB is also pretty awesome:Also on 7, Lindsey has a breast cancer BB:Amazing painted signs (this first one is freshly painted and not even hung up yet):An informational BB about real beauty:A great way to showcase hall rules:And wonderfully creative DDs:On the 6th floor, Winston has a great burning belly fat BB (conveniently located right by the Vol Hall gym):A breast cancer BB:Hilarious "philosorapture" signs:And informational DDs:On the other side of 6, Kevin has a recycling BB:A fantasy football BB:Very manly grill DDs:And odd male humor that I do not fully understand as a gal showcased through his random photo signs:Jasmine has also made these great personalized signs for outside of each RA room. This is one example. Excellent job, Jasmine!Overall, I am so incredibly impressed with the efforts I have seen in Vol Hall. The RAs have done an amazing job turning it into a home and the level of creativity they display is truly top notch. Wonderful job, Vol Hall!! I am in awe.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Vol Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-10-10T08:00:00.004-04:00

Lindsey Owen conducted a program at Vol Hall called "Yoga Under The Stars." Doing yoga...at night...under the starts. Sounded relaxing to me! Lindsey done an excellent job in advertising this program by posting flyers. She also made this nice large sign right outside of the elevator. Unfortunately, my camera was misbehaving and my picture below did not turn out good but the sign was great. The picture below is Lindsey (on the left) and her resident (on the right). Her resident teaches yoga at t-recs. She agreed to teach yoga to Vol Hall residents at no cost. Unfortunately, one hour before the program, rain started pouring down. So we were not able to meet outside. Lindsey quickly moved the location to the hallway. I was very pleased that Lindsey tried to name her residents and say a few things about them right before we started doing yoga. Of course, yoga music was played.
The instructor started the yoga. Here are some residents that joined us.
Different moves... Looks relaxing...
Some stretches were pretty hard to do. Can you guess who is back there doing yoga with her RA and residents?
Can't tell??? Here is a close-up. Yep! Our own Hall Director Jasmine.
I have no idea what this position called but I thought it was cool to take a picture since it was pretty difficult to do. Great job Lindsey! Way to go promoting health among your residents and use your resident as a great resource to help with a program!

Thanks to Jasmine for attending and participating!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Brett Price: RA of the Month, September

2011-10-07T09:17:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Brett Price for being named East/Apartments Area RA of the Month for September! Brett is a second year RA in the Apartment Residence Hall and he is a huge reason why ARH is experiencing a banner year. A Junior majoring in Linguistics with a concentration in Japanese, Brett has naturally made great relationships with all of the international students living in ARH. Though he is not the RA on their floor, Brett is often a person they turn to (in addition to their own stellar RAs) when they need assistance. Recently, when several of the international students experienced an unfortunate incident off campus, Brett was called upon by them to offer guidance and support.

Brett is highly involved on campus outside the RA job, as he is an active member of both the Catholic Student Association and the Knights of Columbus service fraternity. Brett completed several successful programs in the month of September, including a Blue Light safety program, Healthy Breakfasts with his staff committee, a 7th/8th floor Mocktail Mixer, and a Supersmash Brothers Tournament. Clearly, Brett goes above and beyond to offer exciting social and educational opportunities for his residents. ARH Hall Director Jason Lynch says, "Brett was nominated not only because of his willingness to take the lead during a student crisis a few weeks ago, but also because he is always one of the first RAs to volunteer to help with tasks and his constant upbeat and positive attitude." I couldn't have said it better myself! Great job, Brett. Keep up the good work!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Laurel Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-10-03T10:00:00.007-04:00

On August 28th, Laurel Hall RAs were busy with programs. I was able to attend to a few of their programs in one night. It was a fun night for sure.

My first stop was at Lauren Kinnard's program. This was Lauren's first program. She advertised her program via facebook invites and flyers. Her program called "Laurel Cinemas". This is a picture of Lauren :) She provided popcorn and sweets for her residents.

They all came with their blankets to watch TV. More residents... They look cozy and comfortable.My next stop was at Meredith Beach's program. Her program called "Sundae Sunday Social". As you can see below, she made this cute sign. She also sent facebook invites to her residents. This is Meredith's first program too. Below is her picture. She provided ice cream, syrup, and toppings. Also, she baked brownies. One thing that I enjoyed to see was fresh fruits...bananas and strawberries :)

These are Meredith's residents.
Her residents socialized with each other instead of grabbing their ice cream and go to their rooms.

Looks yummy :)My last stop was at Abby Espy's program. She also had ice cream social night but with an additional idea of looking at residents' cribs. This is her program advertisement. This is Abby's first program. Please look at the wonderful art work that she made for her hall. Who doesn't like The Lion King movie? Her residents enjoyed the ice cream and brownies. Abby with her residents. Everyone socialized for a while. Then we all headed to see a few of residents' cribs. Here are some pictures:

Great job ladies! Thanks for inviting me to attend your programs!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

September Spotlight: Massey Hall

2011-09-23T13:15:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Massey! Isn't this sign great?And I love the RA cartoons decorating the front desk. Adorable.This photo does not do it much justice, but the "meet your staff" BB in the lobby is also great:On the 2nd floor, Alyssa has fun social media DDs:And I adore her use of the die cuts for the title on her BB. That is great use of cut outs!Her other BB is a great reminder to the residents about alcohol safety:At the other end of 2, Mary Ellen has shown her art skills and mad creativity with these amazing DDs where she made an anagram of each person's name, complete with a unique hand drawing:Her classy vs trashy BB with a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme is hilarious,and I love that Mr. T enforces the rules on her floor:She has also created "extra BBs" by using wall and ceiling space to educate the residents about alcohol and the constellations. How awesome is that ceiling display? On the third floor, Ashley has a great safety BB:I like how her hall rules are laid out nicely:and these DDs are amazing! Each letter has a different print that she drew by hand herself!Mia wraps out the other side of the 3rd floor with the popular skin care BB:a fun, bright welcome sign:and two great DDs - one a chalkboard and one the football maxims: Danielle has done a wonderful job on 4 with her fabulous Vegas sign and campus BB:a fun, interactive social media BB:a hilarious sign in her bathroom about the non-existent cleaning fairy:and pretty sparkly DDs:Hannah kept up the good work on 4 with an events calendar:an interactive bucket list where the gals can initial when they accomplish an item:and "home"y DDs:On 5, Amber has some really great tiny touches like flowers hanging from the ceiling and a glitter 5 up high on the wall:Her add your own quotes sign has clearly been a hit:and her DDs are cute and sparkly:Several of the Massey floors have the lights draped with paper to create a rainbow color effect, and I managed to get a decent photo on Amber's floor. Trust me, in person these look amazing:Stephanie has a wonderful laundry etiquette BB on 5:as well as a funny college disease guide BB:her DDs are great, with orange sparkle paper and sunglasses:On the 6th floor, Tierney has several birthday signs up for her gals:and her UT Flower DDs are a cute combo of school spirit and preciousness:her football BB is also fun and full of UT pride:Betty also did a great job on 6 with a popular queen bees BB:and fabulous DDs that have a dryer sheet inserted behind the flower so when you smell them it is oh-so-garden fresh!On 7, Mark has a very informative study tips BB:and great UT Big Orange DDs:Also on 7, Andrew has a patriotic 9/11 BB where students can list names of people they lost to the tragedy:an informational exam study BB:and his robot theme is seen through both his DDs and random quotes on the floor:Hunter has done a great job on the 8th floor, with The Hangover and Power Rangers DDs (interesting combination):And a hilarious haka BB (I had to google this, and it is super funny):This was actually done last year, but I want to highlight it. Hunter filled out all the proper paperwork to allow his guys to paint the floor and look at how great it looks! Everyone should do this, the forms are in the Area Office.At the other end of 8, Kyle has very cute UT DDs:Hilarious pick up lines (please don't actually use these, they are horrible!)And a Myers-Briggs Personality BB that is great for his guys:Your building looks wonderful and I am super impressed with all of your hard work. No wonder the students I run into in the halls tell me they love living in Massey! Great job, Massey Hall!!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Clement Hall Program (Rotation #1)

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Brittany Grogan hosted a building-wide educational program called "Cash Counts at Clement Hall." She invited three staff from ORNL Federal Credit Union to come in and talk about bank account, credit card, etc. Here is a picture of Brittany with her guest speakers. Brittany advertised her program by posting flyers all over the Clement Hall. Also, she invited me to attend her program. As soon as I walked into the Clement Hall basement, I saw many residents there. I was very excited to see that many residents are interested to learn about money. There were two tables in the basement. One table was for door prizes as you can see in the picture below. The other table was full of food such as Pizza, drinks, cookies, etc.
Here are some of Brittany's residents. Guest speakers started their discussion about $$$. As you can see below, the basement was pretty full. Every corner that I looked around, there were a few residents there who were ready to learn.During the presentation, the guest speakers were giving these boomerang to residents which is actually a t-shirt inside of it. How fun :)Here is a picture of residents holding their t-shirts. They look like they learned a lot and had fun too :)As I was leaving Clement Hall, I saw the ORLN Federal Credit Union car and I thought it was such a cool car so I took a picture of it.Great job Brittany! I was very impress to see so many residents attended this program.

Brittany told me that this program did not cost her any money. The bank brought all those door prizes, t-shirts, cookies, Pizza, drinks, etc. So for those of you, who are short in your programming budget and would like to do a fun educational program, I highly recommend you to get in touch with ORNL Federeal Credit Union :)

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

September Spotlight: ARH

2011-09-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

In these spotlights, I will be highlighting the amazing efforts of the staff to make their halls a home. My goal in showcasing all of these bulletin boards, door decs, and floor flair is to provide everyone in the area with new ideas, sources of inspiration, and a little bit of healthy competition. So, without further ado, welcome to ARH:

In the lobby, the ARH staff has one large BB announcing the new ARTA executive board:as well as a large BB next to the elevators with all of the events for the month listed:For those of you who have not seen it yet, ARH has a new multipurpose room! Previously the only building without a meeting space for students, they now have this amazing room that can be used for studying, programming, or simply hanging out:The staff as a group took the Strengths Quest assessment as a staff development activity during training, and each RA has a door dec listing their top 5 strengths:On the 3rd floor, Candice has some great unique touches, including several "spirit animals" decorating the floor that were created by residents at a program:She has a fun recipe board, an explore your campus board, and my personal favorite, a whole sign focused on getting the residents to seek her out in her room:Candice's DDs are a cute flower scene:Brandon has decorated the 4th floor with some of the best DDs I have ever seen. 3-D recycling bins!Brandon also has a great football BB that will capture his residents' attention.On the 5th floor, Rachel has a cute BB featuring Justin Timberlake called "Bringing Manners Back" to give her gals a glimpse of proper etiquette:She also enlightens us to the fact that September is Better Breakfast Month:Rachel's DDs are super cute flower pots. I love how she used the long border cut outs to make her stems:On 6, Curt has a creepy BB listing the top 10 most disturbing books, which I found to be unique:As well as a Worst Case Scenario Board always popular with students:His DDs are adorable koala bears: Brett decorated the 7th floor with a BB about funny phobias:And an interactive board educational board called "Alcohol Mythbusters"His DDs made me smile and want to plant a love tree: On the 8th floor, Akshitha has created a BB encouraging her students to get involved on campus:And a BB further promoting campus pride with the ever-popular football theme:Akshitha's DDs are cute cut outs of North America on newspaper, a perfect fit for her international program-focused floor:Chris has done a great job on 9 with football-themed DDs:And an academic success BB (love the positioning of the letters):The 10th floor has a cute polka dot theme created by Kiersten which really looks great in person but my camera did not quite capture the adorableness:Her safety and football BBs are both bright and informative:I want to also highlight 2 of Kiersten's random signs because they illustrate how much a well-made sign can enhance your floor. Compare these to if she had simply written her message on paper with markers - world of difference!Cathy has made the 11th floor beautiful with her famous 3-D flower DDs:Her split BB of birthdays and civility information is both informative and cute:Cathy also has Power T's hanging from her lobby ceiling that look fantastic:I also love this 9/11 board where the residents shared their locations when they heard the news:Jennifer did a great job on 12 with a healthy living BB:She has quotes down all 3 of her hallways:And she has bright, fun DDs that celebrate football season as well as sea life!The 13th floor benefits from Kyle's creativity with sporty DDs:An interesting quote board definitely grabbed my attention in his lobby:And his very nice recycling BB would make Jay and Gordie proud in the Make Orange Green office:On 14, Daniel has some great pirate DDs where he assigned each apartment a ship name and each resident a different role on the ship (ie captain, etc). Very creative and time-intensive, Daniel!The 15th and 2nd floors both benefit from Lashonna's creativity. These little note holders caught my eye and are a great way to get information to the residents:These color-coordinated DDs are lovely:And her program idea BB is a great, interactive way for the residents to be involved in the community development of the floor. I love that she used dark paper and chalk rather than simply a pen or marker:Great job, ARH! I thoroughly enjoy visiting your hall and know your residents are in great hands!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Rocky Top 2011

2011-09-12T10:00:00.001-04:00

Here are some fun-bonding pictures from Rocky Top. Enjoy!

ARH :)

Jumping the rope :)

Clement Hall, hiding from my camera :) I guess this is a new way to bond :)

Gibbs Hall :) Gibbs Hall and Laurel Hall are bonding together :)

Jess is working hard :)

Massey Hall :) It is getting crowded in there :)

Mark ~ In case, you were wondering who held your ankle. Vol Hall :) It looks like they are dancing.

Jump, Jump. Jump...

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Brianna Spears: RA of the Month, August

2011-09-09T14:32:00.005-04:00

Congratulations to Brianna Spears for being named the East/Apartments Area RA of the Month for August! Brianna is a second year RA in Volunteer Hall and is a Junior majoring in Psychology. Brianna has done an amazing job building a comfortable home for her upperclass residents and has already built a strong community. She decorated the floor with a "Honey, You're Home" theme, complete with Bee Hives and Honey Jar door decs. Brianna has also already completed several successful programs for her floor, including "Pasta, PJs, and Pies" where 30-plus residents showed up! The annual Vol Hall "Sex in the Courtyard"program also benefited from her assistance. On the flip side, Brianna is also a staff leader when it comes to her administrative and confrontation skills as well. She has properly documented large groups of students in the building in order to maintain a community atmosphere in Vol Hall that celebrates student responsibility and a healthy living environment.

In addition to all of the above, Volunteer Hall Director Jasmine Wilson adds, "This August we had a very unfortunate circumstance occur in our residence hall when we were alerted that a resident's father collapsed in one of our apartments. Brianna went above and beyond her RA position by being there through this crisis and comforting the family in their grief when a wonderful young lady and resident lost her father. Brianna helped coordinate medical assistance with UTPD and the Emergency Response Team and stayed in the hospital with her resident and immediate family members. Coming out of this tragedy, as a returning RA, Brianna has been very helpful reaching out to her peers and giving advice. She led her Viking Raiding Party through their first activity of the year and has helped many of our new staff members. In weekly reports, many of her peers thank her for taking the time to chat and build them up on the job. Thank you for your strength, Brianna, and all the wonderful qualities you bring to this position."

Outstanding job, Brianna! Volhalla!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Laurel RAs Put Out Fires During Training!

2011-08-19T15:38:00.003-04:00

Do you ever wonder if you will actually use the skills you learn during RA training week?

Well, the Laurel RAs found out that, yes, indeed you do. And sooner than you would think.

Laura, Kate, and Meredith discovered a small fire outside of Laurel during check-in and put their fire extinguisher training skills to the test - and they successfully saved the residents of Laurel Hall from certain doom! Even the responding firemen were impressed with the RAs' quick response to the issue before it got out of hand and caused more damage.Great job, ladies!!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Welcome Back!

2011-08-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

We hope you all had a great summer and are excited to be back at UT!! The RA Training Committee has a jam-packed week full of information, fun, and more information planned for you, so get ready for a long but fulfilling trek to opening. Take in as much as you can, meet as many new people as you can, and ask any questions that pop into your head. We are glad to have you back and can't wait to see what this year will bring!

Have a Happy Summer

2011-05-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

First of all, on behalf of the EAO and the entire Fainting Goat Family, I would like to take a moment to congratulate those of you who have graduated this semester. We are all very proud of each of you and consider ourselves fortunate to have worked by your side during your senior year at UT and your accomplishment have inspired us to be our best. Thank you.

To the rest of you who are not returning, we will miss you dearly and we hope to extend similar congratulations to you in the near future. Your contributions and service to the your Department and University have had profound and untold effects on the lives of your residents, your coworkers, and your supervisors. Best wishes on the next phase of your professional journey.

When we first envisioned this blog, we hoped that it could be a place to return and to relive fond memories of your residents and co-workers. We can only hope that we have been successful in at least some small measure.

For those of you who are coming back in August, I wish you a safe and wonderful summer and look forwarding to your smiling faces at Camp Rocky Top.

Happy Summer :)

Clement Hall Program (Rotation #4)

2011-05-11T14:00:00.003-04:00

On Saturday April 30th, Clement Hall head staff and RAs hosted a program called "Frank G. Clement Day". They collaborated with the Clement Hall Residents' Association. It was one beautiful sunny day :) Clement staff takes advertisement very seriously. Below is a nice flyer that was posted around their building. One thing that I love about Clement Hall staff is that every time when they have a program, each RA will change their Facebook profile picture to the flyer that was made. This is a fantastic idea which can inform their residents about the program. So here we have a picture of Andrew Howard and Kristin Barnett. As you can see from her outfit Kristin is ready to get this party started :) These are the faces behind the grilling station (Joseph Carpenter, Aaron Campbell, and Casey Murry). Burgers and hot dogs :) Brittany Grogan and Nicole (our next year new RA) were in charge of the food table. Residents are helping themselves to make their sandwiches.
Mary Kate Lepard and Courtney Kousser are hanging out with a resident. Here is Travis Liggins in charge of Root Beer Pong. The RAs took turn for the dunking booth . Here is Allison Joins ready to be dunked in the water. Xavian Thomas gets involved too. Fun :)
Here is Xavian and Maggie Hanna monitoring the dunking booth station :) The is no party without a DJ. So here is our Clement DJ. And some dancing :) Another station was the "Pie A RA!". As you can see we have Courtney Kousser, Eric Willingham, Aimee Robinson, and Lauren Mullane are ready for this. I decided to have some fun. Eric was kind to allow me to pie his face. It was not an actual pie but it was whipped cream on a plate. Thanks Eric :) Joel would like to have some fun too so Lauren is ready for some whipped cream. Joel was very gentle..... As you can see, not much whipped cream on her face but if you look very closely, you will see Tedros Yohannes with a plate of whipped cream behind him ready to surprise Lauren... And, this is what happened! Thanks Lauren for being a champ! Aimee Robinson is next! She is prepared with her shower cap and a big smile :) Here is after :) Courtney was next! Travis had a graduation to attend in couple of hours so he was trying to avoid the whipped cream... But he gave up :) Tedros is next! Go Allison :) Fantastic Job Clement Hall! Everyone had a blast! Each staff had a big smile no matter they were grilling in the heat, or they were getting hit by whipped cream, or they were getting dunked :))))

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Gibbs Hall Program (Rotation #4)

2011-05-09T17:00:00.003-04:00

Gibbs Hall hosted an educational program called "Career Raffle". This program was a collaboration between Brian Ghere, Jameson O'Neal, John Baldwin, and Jack Parker. Conducting programs at Gibbs Hall can be challenging sometimes, especially hosting an educational program. However, these wonderful RAs were able to use their creativity to do this program by offering an interactive bulletin board for each floor. Below is a visible advertisement sign that was made by the RAs. The bulletin boards had information such as career planning, choosing a major or career, career consulting, and career fairs, etc. Below are some pictures from these boards.

The RAs provided a questionnaire at the front desk for residents to pick up and find the answers by reading the bulletin boards. Each resident dropped the questionnaire in the Career Raffle box. Prizes were available for residents to win. Andrew is our model to show off a few of these career essentials. 55 residents completed the questionnaire and prizes were given to the winners :) This was definitely a success.

Great Job to Brian, Jameson, John, and Jack!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Laurel Hall Program (Rotation #4)

2011-04-29T17:21:00.007-04:00

Kim Callahan hosted "Coloring Eggs for Easter" program at Laurel Hall. Kim started her RA position in Spring semester. We are glad to have her on our team. Kim advertised her program via Facebook invite and posted flyers on her floor. She was kind and invited me to her program via Facebook :) When I walked out of the elevator, residents already started coloring eggs. Kim provided some snacks for people to enjoy. Yummy! Colors and eggs were ready to be used. Some of the eggs were boiled and some were not. If you color a boiled egg, you can keep the egg for couple of weeks then it will get a bad smell :( However, if you use a raw egg but empty the yolk & white then color it, you can keep the egg for a very long time.Here are residents working on their Easter eggs. Below is a picture of a boiled egg. You can just leave it in the color for 10 minutes. Then you have your colored egg.Here is a raw egg that Jess is working on emptying the yolk & white. You can use a push pin to put a hole on both sides of the egg. Then, let it drain. Make sure to wash the egg after draining.

There were stickers available to use for the decoration.
Here is a picture of our Easter eggs :) I love the colors.
Wonderful job Kim! Everyone had a great time!
Special thanks to Jess, Kellie, and Hannah L. for stopping by and supporting Kim!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Happy ASA Day!

2011-04-27T07:24:00.003-04:00

We are incredibly lucky to have some amazing support staff members in our department. The Administrative Support Assistants who help run our buildings are a big part of our success with students. For us in the Area Office, Ms. Amy is a big part of our success with life in general! Seriously, I shudder to think of the state of things without her.

I have known Amy since I was an AHD in Morrill Hall many moons ago. She was amazing back then, too! When she was hired to work with me in the Area Office, I was thrilled. She immediately transformed the office into a more organized and fun place to be. I doubt any of you remember the office before Amy, but rest assured, it was a totally different atmosphere - and a bit of a mess. Amy did not hesitate to bring new ideas that she thought would benefit the RAs and head staff using the office, even if it meant her job would be more complicated.

Amy is always looking for new resources for the RAs. She served on the Staff Recognition Committee this year and made the case for better certificates (didn't they look great?) saying you guys were well worth the extra cost. I agree! I love that about Ms. Amy - that she thinks of others first and always has the interest of the student foremost in her mind. That is the ideal person to work in a college setting.

For me personally, Amy inspires me to better myself. She is constantly taking classes to improve her skills in computers - she took a Photoshop class just yesterday! - and customer service. She is not content to coast, but wants more and better for herself, and incidentally, for our office. Amy is also a friend. She has helped me through many a bad day, poor decision, and angry mood. She offers great advice, listens openly, and has more than once allowed me to cry on her shoulder (sorry, Amy, we'll blame it on the pregnancy hormones)! Amy is hilarious to talk to and probably one of the best people I know to simply have a chat about life with when you need it. Ms. Amy - I love you!!

So, Happy ASA Day to all of our amazing ladies, especially Amy. We hope you have a great day! Thanks for all you do for our department, our students, our staff, and our selves!!

Thank You - From Mona

2011-04-22T15:15:00.001-04:00

I would like to take the time and thank each of you for your warm wishes and kind words on GA Appreciation Day. I am very moved and overwhelmed by your kindness and cannot express how much your love means to me. Each of you bring joy into my life and seeing your beautiful faces daily brightens my day.

Working with you this year has been a blast! I am looking forward to work with those of you who will return next year. To all the rest, I wish you the best of luck and you will be missed greatly.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

It's Mona Day!

2011-04-19T16:11:00.007-04:00

Wednesday is GA Appreciation Day for the Department of University Housing, and we have some wonderful Assistant Hall Directors to celebrate. However, here in the Area Office, it is full-on Mona Day!!

Mona is in her first year serving as the Area GA and has made a huge impact. She regularly attends RA programs, highlights RA achievements on the blog, keeps the resource room organized and up to date, and LOVES getting to know the RAs in the area. I think as her supervisor I have been most struck with the dedication Mona has put into getting to know each and every RA in the area - and that is no small feat with over 70 RAs! Mona knows everyone by name and is even facebook friends with most!

It is not an overstatement to say that Mona is one of the best area GAs we have seen, and I hope all our RAs know and appreciate the hard work that she puts into her job. Some of my favorite days are when I am in my office typing away at reports and I hear Mona in her office laughing and chatting with our student staff - I must admit to extreme bouts of jealousy. She is able to make the Area Office a home for the RAs, which was a huge goal of ours.

Mona is working hard on her PhD and has just this year published an article in a professional journal, presented at a national conference, and maintained a 4.0 GPA in her program. Oh, and she has attended 12 staff meetings and 48 RA programs. AMAZING!

Mona, I appreciate all that you do, I am constantly humbled by your contributions and ideas, and I am so happy to have another full year to work with you in the Area Office. You are simply the best!!!

Love ya,
Jeannie

RAs: please post your own comments for Mona!

Apartments Residence Hall (Rotation #4)

2011-04-18T17:00:00.000-04:00

On Friday April 1st, Akshitha Yarrabothula and Curt Holmes hosted a program at Dixie Stampede at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This program was targeted for the International Roommate Program. These two wonderful RAs collaborated with their hall association and I-house to make this program possible. What a great collaboration! Below is a picture of Akshitha and Curt :) The staff is working hard at the front desk to make sure that those residents who signed up are ready to go.

And here are the residents waiting in the ARH lobby.

Residents are being informed which van they will be

sitting in. Getting ready to go into the van.

They seem excited :)

For those of you who don't know about Dixie Stampede, this is a dinner theater which is owned by Dolly Parton.

This is the entrance of the Dixie Stampede.

This lady was waiting at the entrance to greet people.

Here is a picture of ARH residents/staff :)

More pics of residents sitting in the theater waiting for the show to start.

Here are a few pictures of the show...

They served meal without utensils. I personally loved the creamy vegetable soup and biscuit :p So the challenge was eating the whole rotisserie chicken by hand. The chicken was served with corn on the cob and herb-basted baked potato. Sorry no pictures of those because I was so hungry and I ate it :(

Another favorite of mine was the iced apple turnover. It was sooooo delicious :)))

There were some games that audience could get involved with. Here is a picture of our own RA Cathy Oler.

Of course, she won :)

At the end of the show, people were allowed to take pictures with the horses. Here is a picture of Jeannie and Jeremy but I am not sure where is the horse in this picture :)))

Great job to Amy and Katie for helping with this program!

Fantastic job Akshitha and Curt for the wonderful program! Everything went very smoothly and everyone had a great time!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Casey Murry, RA of the Month - March

2011-04-13T20:10:00.007-04:00

Congratulations to Casey Murry for being named the RA of the Month for the East/Apartments Area for the month of March. Casey, a second year RA in Clement Hall, is a Junior Kinesiology major, with aspirations of becoming a physical therapist after school. Casey has been described by his head staff as the ultimate volunteer for Clement. Any time an RA has been needed to step up for an extra assignment, be it RA Council, the Blue/Orange blood drive, Habitat Honcho, etc, Casey can always be counted on to selflessly volunteer his time and talents for the staff.

Nominator and Hall Director Kristin Barnett has raved about Casey's Community Development Logs and is consistently impressed by his thorough entries. Even more importantly, however, she is proud of the honest and engaging interactions he regularly has with his residents. An all-around exceptional RA, Casey really stood apart from his peers in the month of March due to his extraordinary programming efforts. Casey strives to promote health and wellness on his floor, and he proved that in March with two large events. His floor created an intramural soccer team, and they had 14 members. 14 people from one floor is quite an achievement! Casey also got 10 residents from his floor to run the Friday Night 5K to raise money for Elementary School programs. The guys trained together throughout the month to get ready for the race, and they raised over $150 for a great cause! HD Barnett sums it up nicely when she says, "Casey is our most dependable RA and he consistently goes above and beyond to help both students and staff members. Without Casey, I think we would all die of epic despair." Possibly an overstatement, but the sentiment is clear. Great work, Casey!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

New Die-cuts

2011-04-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

We have new die-cuts at the EAPO. I have updated the die-cut list and posted on the cabinet.

As you can see, we have a dollar sign... ...and, we have the continents.

Enjoy :)

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Reimbursement Deadline For Spring Semester

2011-04-08T12:00:00.010-04:00

Friendly Reminders:

1) Reimbursements, advanced funds, and reconciliation forms for your programs must be submitted to me by 5:00pm on Monday April 25th in order for you to receive the check before the end of the semester.

2) Please make sure to make a copy of your receipts when you turn in your forms to me. As I mentioned during staff meetings, I will need the reimbursement form or reconciliation form with one copy of your receipt.

3) If you have any “ready to pick up checks” with me, please try to pick them soon during my office hours.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Massey Hall Program (Rotation #4)

2011-04-04T13:00:00.002-04:00

Hunter Siler hosted a program at Massey Hall called "T-shirt Spray Painting." Hunter has done an excellent job on advertising this program. I loved the fact that he used Facebook Event to send invitation to his residents and co-workers in order for people to attend his program. The great thing about using Facebook invite is that you will get an idea of how many people will be attending your program. Of course, he invited me too :) Below are some pictures of Massey Hall residents who are getting ready to paint some t-shirts.

As you can see, more people started to join us.

For those of you who don't know how to spray paint a t-shirt, these pictures will give you an idea of what to do. First, they made sure to place some newspapers under and some inside the t-shirts so the paint does not go through. Then, they used masking tape to design.

Then, they used spray paint to paint their t-shirts.

Also, some residents used die-cuts for designing the t-shirts. So here is before...

And, here is after....Once the paint is dry, you can take the tape and die-cuts off.

This t-shirt is ready to go :)

Danielle used a heart die-cut :)

Andrew used dolphins die-cut:)

It was definitely a social program with full of creativity. Great job Hunter!

Also, I greatly appreciate the fact that Hunter informed me about his program by stopping by my office, e-mail, and Facebook. I really get excited when I see our RAs take the initiative to inform me of their program.

Thanks to Danielle and Eric for stopping by and supporting Hunter's program!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Vol Hall Program (Rotation #4)

2011-03-25T12:30:00.001-04:00

On Thursday February 24th, RA Payal Goyal hosted a social program called "Your Cupcakes, Your Way" at Vol Hall. Payal advertised her program with a large visible sign right outside the elevator. Here is a picture of Payal with a table full of baked cupcakes. Also, she provided icing and candies for decorating the cupcakes. As you can see, this table is ready for residents to stop by and decorate their own cupcakes. Here is a picture of Payal and her first resident who stopped by. Decoration of cupcakes has started...The residents are having fun :) Aaron (president of VHRA) stopped by and made himself a cupcake. I totally love this picture because this resident walked in while I was holding the camera. When she saw the cupcakes, she got so excited and made this face. Of course, I captured it :) More residents are stopping by...

Final products :)

Wonderful job Payal! I had a wonderful time and I am sure your residents did too :)

Thanks to Lauren B. and Winston for stopping by!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Breanna Lovley - RA of the Month, February

2011-03-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Breanna Lovley for being named the East/Apartments Area RA of the Month for February! Breanna is a 2nd year RA in the Apartment Residence Hall, and the month of February shone extra light on her already stellar performance as a self-less team player on the ARH staff. Breanna, originally from Sparta, TN, is an English major (yay!) with an emphasis in rhetoric and writing. According to her Assistant Hall Director, Katie Manczyk, Breanna is "always willing to help out, whether it's switching shifts, taking on unwanted tasks, or just helping file paperwork." Breanna is also an extremely creative programmer and has translated her love of movies into a creative on-going program opportunity for her residents by posting "guess the movie" quotes around the floor with the movie title revealed when you lift a flap.

Hall Director Brandon Phillips nominated Breanna for the month of February due to all of these things, but also because she stepped up to the plate at a very stressful time in ARH. Due to a massive pipe burst behind the front desk, the RAs and staff were asked to completed round the clock fire walks in the building for several days. While never a fun task, doing continuous fire walks in the middle of the night is especially unappealing. To save her staff from having to split up the chore, Breanna took on 15 (!) fire walk shifts. That is impressive! Thanks, Breanna, for being a great RA and a positive team player!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Gibbs Hall Program (Rotation #3)

2011-03-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

On Friday February 25th, Gibbs Hall hosted a program called "Brownies and More..." This educational program was conducted by "Team Bear Sword John" which includes Josh Crumm, Andrew Temple, and Robert Partee. Below is a picture of Josh and Andrew. Robert was out of town.

Josh and Andrew went door to door gave brownies to residents and shared facts about illegal drug use. As you can see, they knocked on residents' doors :)
They gave brownies to residents with smiles on their faces and shared a fact.

It looks like these residents enjoyed the brownies and learned about illegal drug use.

A resident asked Andrew and Josh to give him brownies from an unopened brownie box in case the brownies were tampered. Smart!

At some point, someone dropped two boxes of brownies on the floor. It was not ME who dropped them :)

Thanks Josh for picking them up! No worries, the boxes were closed so it didn't get dirty :)

As I said, it was not ME because I was the napkin holder as you can see below. I have to say that it was one COLD day. we were freezing. Thank god I had my coat and gloves! Even though it was cold, we went to every single door and we made sure that we had a big smile :)

Here are our final residents :)

Great job Andrew, Josh, and Robert! Keep up the good work!

Special thanks to Jameson for helping out!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Sping Break 2011

2011-03-11T13:41:00.002-05:00

I wish each of you a happy and safe spring break.

Source: Google Images

Spring Break Week & Reimbursement

2011-03-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hello All,

I will not hold office hours during Spring break week. Therefore, if you are here and need to use the EAPO, please make sure to bring your key with you. My last office hours will be Friday March 11th and I will be back for my office hours on Monday March 21st.

Please make sure to submit all your reimbursement forms and receipts for the programs that you have done since January to me by Friday March 11th at 1:00pm so that I can process if for you by 4:00pm and turn it in. Your check will be ready when you come back from your break.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Clement Hall Program (Rotation #3)

2011-02-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

On February 20th, Clement Hall hosted an educational program called "Oral Sex In The Basement...Again." This program was hosted last year and it was a very successful program. So they decided to host it again. This program was a team effort between Travis Liggins, Courtney Kousser, Casey Murry, Lauren Mullane, and Cecell Hite.

The RAs provided a box called "Ask the Sexpert Question Box" which residents wrote their questions and placed them in the box.

Two games were planned for the residents. Here is a picture of the RAs that are explaining the games to residents.

The first game was to see who can put a condom the fastest on a banana.

As you can see below, they are busy to complete this game.

And yes, we had a winner. Aaron Campbell :)

For the second game, the residents divided into two groups. Cecell read some questions about safe sex practices to the group and residents received a score by answering them.

Here is the score board that Courtney was in charge of.

Here is group 1 :)

Here is group 2 :)

The RAs also provided snacks.

They invited a "Sexpert" speaker to answer any questions that residents have in regard to sex. Here is Rosa from the UT Health Clinic looking for questions in the box.

Below is a picture of RAs with Rosa :)

Here is Travis caught on my camera, taking these condoms. Of course, he said that he is taking these to his residents. Good job Travis for thinking of your residents and making sure they practice safe sex :)

This program was definitely fun and educational at the same time. If you doubt that an educational program and inviting a guest speaker can be boring to residents and they would not attend, here is a great example that it is possible. All you need is a unique name for your program, advertisement, snacks, and fun games.

Excellent job to Courtney, Lauren, Cecell, Casey, and Travis!

Special thanks to Andrew Howard, Aaron Campbell, Xavian Thomas , Aimee Robinson, Madison Moore for stopping by to support this program!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

New Vacuum

2011-02-25T14:48:00.014-05:00

A few RAs suggested to me that we should have a small vacuum in the East Area Programming Office (EAPO) so that the staff can clean after themselves. I thought it was a wonderful idea. As long as, I don't have to clean after everyone :)

So, Get Excited! Now, we have one for YOUR use. Please do not remove the vacuum out of the EAPO! This is for office use only. Let's keep the EAPO clean :)

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Spotlight: Gibbs Hall

2011-02-23T19:31:00.006-05:00

A recent stroll through Gibbs Hall made me sublimely happy. It may be the smallest hall, the smallest staff, and have outside doors that make door decs nightmares due to rain and wind, but this Gibbs staff has made a huge impact and rewritten all the rules. And all signs point to success!

First, let's take a look at some bulletin boards prepared by the men of Gibbs:
Andrew has a hilarious condom board featuring Mr. T and some interesting "Bro Code" maxims. Not being a "bro" myself, I struggled to comprehend a few! For example, I would prefer you leave the toilet seat down, not up, but who am I to say?Brian has some helpful and humorous tips on how to stay safe over Spring Break.Robert's President Chuck Norris board made me happy, and his tips on how to get a bad grade were great - and spilled out of the board and out into the hallway.John gives his residents advice on managing their time, which is a perfect topic for this time of year.Josh provides some fun quotes to spark conversation amongst his men.Josh and Jameson teamed up to create one board with two messages: recycling and time management - two great topics!Jameson stole my heart with his Valentine's board. I tried to steal the box of candy, but Richie wouldn't let me. Sad day.Jack used his board to publicize the Gibbs Gentleman program (see below) since he has the best location being on the first floor.Richie, HD, created two boards for the lobby, including a Black History Month informational and a weekly history fact.Justin, AHD, refused to be outdone and created an eye catching board promoting Dance Marathon.Finally, I am excited to say that the Gibbs staff has started a new programming team effort to help them in achieving greater success. Just instituted this past January, the two programming "teams" plan events together each month and compete for points that can be gained through quality logs, programs, etc. Who doesn't love a little healthy competition to keep you motivated and excited? The two teams, "Team Nightmare" and "Team Bear Sword John" have both seen success so far.

Team Nightmare (made up of Brian - captain, John, Jameson, and Jack) is currently publicizing their Gibbs Gentleman competition, where residents can nominate each other for the title of ultimate Gentleman of Gibbs Hall. This person will be friendly, chivalrous, smart, helpful, humorous, and school spirited. Good luck to all nominees!Team Bear Sword John (made up of Josh - captain, Robert, and Andrew) completed a wonderful diversity program a few weeks ago. They had a great number of residents fill out surveys from the front desk and then posted the statistics around the lobby. Residents were amazed at what they read and some really great conversations were had. Some of the eye-opening statistics included:
5 % of Gibbs residents were born in a different country. 3% of Gibbs residents have same-sex couple parents. 32% of Gibbs residents have been mocked for their racial background. 6% of Gibbs residents consider themselves to be homosexual. 44% of Gibbs residents have visited the I-House or BCC. 41% of Gibbs residents family’s income is less than $100,000/year. 82% of Gibbs residents have made a homophobic joke. 62% of Gibbs residents consider themselves to be a “religious” person. 41% of Gibbs residents would not be able to attend UTK without scholarships. 53% of Gibbs residents have been mocked for their weight.

I am continually impressed by this staff and their hard work. Great job and keep it up!!

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!

Apartments Residence Hall Program (Rotation #3)

2011-02-21T21:38:00.052-05:00

I attended a program called Valentine's Party at Apartments Residence Hall. This program was hosted by Amy Gardner, Chelsea Oliver, Jaleesa Lucas, Jennifer Gordon, and Cathy Oler. This program was advertised very nicely throughout their building.

Of course, any type of food will bring attention to your residents. As you can see below, these sweet ladies provided sweets for their residents. I could not resist and tried most of them. They were soooooo delicious. Jen baked two cakes, Chelsea baked two pans of brownies, and Amy baked some cookies. They also served hot chocolate :)

They provided art & craft supplies as you can see below.
Die-cuts always come in handy.
Painting supplies were provided too.
Amy is working on her art :)
Chelsea already finished her craft. She is enjoying her time with residents and other RAs:) Here is Jen's completed valentine box :) Jaleesa is showing off her decorative box :)
Unfortunately, Cathy was not feeling well that night :( She helped with organizing the program. Jaleesa was kind and made her this wonderful heart box :) We missed you Cathy.
The set up was on the 5th floor lobby. As you can see many residents stopped by and started working on arts & crafts. They also socialized while drinking hot chocolate and eating sweets.
We had a few boys who got involved with making crafts.
And yes, our own Brandon got busy too :)
David and Katie stopped by and made their own crafts.
Below are pictures of some residents with their arts/crafts.

The box on the left was a plain box that RAs purchased and the box on the right is after painting and designing. P-R-E-T-T-Y :)
Some people were making friendship bracelets. Here is Brett who is making me a bracelet :) I have to say that I tried to learn how to make one but it seems very complicated to me.
You have to secure one end to be able to start. So Brett taped it on the floor :)
And Kyle used his toe. I am not sure what he was doing in this picture but I guess this is one way of making a friendship bracelet :)

I was there for a few hours and did not want to leave because I was so into making things and hanging out with RAs. And of course, I did my job and took some pictures :)

Fabulous job Amy, Cathy, Chelsea, Jaleesa, and Jennifer!

Special thanks to Brandon, Katie, Brett, David, and Kyle for stopping by! I always enjoy seeing you supporting each other's programs.

NO GOATS, NO GLORY!