Residence Life Applauds RAs, Month's Exemplary Programs

Published 04.09.2008

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Student News

Pennsylvania College of Technology's Residence Life Office announces its March selections for praiseworthy Resident Assistants and programs in its four on-campus housing complexes.

Brian Walton Resident Assistant of the Month
Brian Walton, a second-year Resident Assistant at College West Apartments and a technology management major from West Chester, was honored as RA of the Month.

Actively involved as a student leader at Penn College, he is a Student Ambassador, a Student Government Association senator from the School of Business and Computer Technologies, and a member of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America.

"He has a passion for increasing student involvement, which is demonstrated as he motivates students to partake in campus activities and student-leadership opportunities," Residence Life staff said. "In addition, this RA has done an amazing job of balancing his leadership positions along with his academics by being named to the dean's list."

Michael Snyder Rising Star of the Month
Selected as the Rising Star of the Month for his "hard work, dedication and sense of being a team player" was Michael Snyder, of Shamokin, a first-year RA at Rose Street Apartments.

"This Resident Assistant has gone far above and beyond, especially in his programming efforts and his willingness to help others," staff said in announcing his selection. "As a graphic design major, he's done an excellent and very professional job of designing all of the flyers for the Rose Street programs."

Most recently, Snyder chaired a program at Faxon Bowling Lanes that attracted about 100 residents which Residence Life noted was "pretty impressive for a Wednesday night from 9-11 p.m.!" Staff said he worked diligently to complete all paperwork on time, publicity was beautifully done and he negotiated with Faxon on the cost.

Edward RaceClayton Morrow Educational Program of the Month
Edward Race (in his first year) and Clayton Morrow (a third-year RA), Resident Assistants at The Village,were awarded the Educational Program of the Month for their Tank Simulator Program.

Race is a civil engineering technology major from Loganton and Morrow is an IT security specialist student from Loysville.

"These Resident Assistants did an excellent job of planning and implementing this program," staff said. "Race, who also serves as a member of the National Guard and ROTC, worked with employees at the Williamsport Armory to organize the event. Throughout the program, residents were able to learn about and operate actual equipment used in combat through simulated computer programs."

Dereck SmithJason KovachBenaiah TucciJoseph Simon Social Program of the Month
The Social Program of the Month was Powder Puff Football, organized by Walton (see above); Dereck Smith, a third-year RA from Campus View Apartments; Benaiah Tucci, in his first year at Campus View; Joseph Simon, a first-year RA from Rose Street Apartments; and Jason Kovach, in his second year at College West.

"Although the finale has not yet taken place, the practices and meetings have taken as much time, if not more, than the final product," Residence Life staff said. "These RAs worked with Jeremy Bottorf (intramural/Fitness Center assistant) to ensure a successful Powder Puff season. They recruited residents to come to an interest meeting, where they taught all in attendance how to play "¦ and what to expect in the weeks to come. They dealt with scheduling conflicts and weather for the use of the field, designed T-shirts and worked with (College Information & Community Relations) for approval of their design."

Smith, of South Plainfield, N.J., majors in residential construction technology and management; Tucci, of Ligonier, is a construction student; Simon, of Renovo, is enrolled in the management information systems major; and Kovach, of Duncansville, majors in Web applications and development.

Special Initiative Program of the Month
The Special Initiative Program of the Month goes to all four complexes (Rose Street, College West, Campus View and The Village) for two unique programs.

The first was the Rock-'n'-Roll Egg Hunt, drawing a crowd of 160 Penn College students. Residence Life paraprofessional staff from all four complexes stuffed more than 500 colored eggs that were hidden along the courtyard behind CC Commons. Each egg held candy and educational snippets about sex, drugs, and Rock-"˜n'-Roll trivia with a special guest appearance by the Easter Bunny.

The second was the Soul Fest event that ended the celebration of African-American History Month. A crowd of 100-plus enjoyed the culinary delights of Residence Life Staff from fried chicken, fried fish, pork ribs and ox tail to baked macaroni and cheese, collard greens, black-eyed peas with rice and fried okra to lemonade, sweet tea, sweet potato pie, pound cake, bread pudding and corn bread. The evening started out with a guest speaker, James Braxton Peterson, assistant professor of English at Bucknell University.