Mercer Residence Hall Association Recives Award

The Residence Hall Association is a student-led group designed to make residence hall life as enjoyable as possible for the students. RHA also works to develop a sense of pride within the residence halls and develop a feeling of community among the residents.

Josh Gaisser, the area coordinator for residence life, said that Mercer’s RHA brought 17 student leaders to the Georgia Residence Hall Organization conference at the University of Georgia.  This conference is a highly spirited, statewide conference with about 150 student leaders and 13 universities in attendance.

Gaisser said that Mercer’s delegation was able to win a multitude of awards including Best Display, Best Banner and the highest award, Most Spirited Delegation. Two other prestigious awards that were brought home included School of the Year and Student Leader of the Year, which was presented to the president of RHA Alfred Lee.

“At GRHO there are three types of awards that are given out. The first is comprised of ‘GRHO awards’, which are written bids that have to be submitted by the school’s National Communication’s chair and are then voted upon in Board Room,” said Leslie Graham, director of public relations for RHA, as she described what awards Mercer won. “Of those awards, Mercer took home School of the Year and Student Leader of the Year.”

Graham described the next set of awards as being conference specific. “These awards consist of Best Roll Call, Best Banner, Best Display and Most Spirited Overall. Of those awards, Mercer took home Best Banner, Best Display and Most Spirited Overall. We additionally contributed the most to the various philanthropies of the conference,” said Graham.

“The final sets of awards are actually grants awarded by the GRHO executive board. Of those grants, one student, Josh Hodges won the First Time Delegate Grant which essentially paid for his conference fees,” said Graham

All the schools that attended represented different Georgia state schools as well as representatives from the regional level and were part of the South Atlantic Affiliate National Association of College and University Residence Halls (SAACURH).

Some of the other schools that attended included East Georgia College, Valdosta State University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University and more.

“RHA is more than just a programming committee; we seek to improve residence hall living by serving as the means of communication between the students and administration,” said Graham.

Mercer’s RHA helps better itself by being part of the Georgia Residence Hall Organization (GRHO) focuses to unite RHAs from around the state so that a network of student leaders can be created. These students are able to benefit by knowing each other and working towards similar goals.

The GRHO Conference is a weekend event where all of the schools that are part of the organization come together to share ideas about programming and student leadership development and to attend the Board Room Meeting. During the Board Room Meeting awards and legislation were voted upon.

The RHA reflects the same values and creativity that they won awards for at Mercer. “Essentially these awards show that Mercer is a school that values creativity, ingenuity and dedication to detail,” said Graham.

“Historically we have put on large scale events such as Humans vs. Zombies, Splatterfest and our first ever RHA Week, but we also provide small-scale programs through the various Hall Governments on campus,” said Graham. “Our programs are designed to promote personal growth and/or to increase a sense of pride in their residence hall environment.”

“RHA is more than just a programming committee; we seek to improve residence hall living by serving as the means of communication between the students and administration,” said Graham.

The RHA works with students to bridge the gap between students and policies.

“We serve as the voice of the residents in regards to various housing policies and procedures. Therefore, if a student were to bring forward a grievance about their residence hall experience, we are equipped to explore the necessary avenues to reach a satisfactory conclusion,” said Graham.

RHA helps students by making residence life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. They put on large-scale events as well as small hall events in order to help residents connect with each other and develop a sense of community.