Residence Life Honors Outstanding RAs, Campus Programs

The Residence Life Office at Pennsylvania College of Technology has announced a number of recent honors, spotlighting praiseworthy students and programs among the college's four residence-hall complexes.

Chosen as "Resident Assistant of the Month" was Rachel S. Hall, a culinary arts technology major from Altoona, in her third year at The Village at Penn College.

Hall "has been involved on campus for several years and has a deep understanding of the Residence Life philosophy. She is organized and does a great job at balancing her personal life, her academics and her Senior Resident Assistant position," the staff wrote.

"This RA has gone above and beyond in many aspects of her position. Many of her fellow staff members feel that she is a great 'go-to' person and is someone they can rely on. (She) has developed several phenomenal programs and has creative out-of-the-box thinking."

The "Rising Star" award was presented to Jamie L. Lear, a first-year RA in College West Apartments.

A business management systems major from Cogan Station, she was termed a "team player (who) has helped her fellow RAs many times and has a strong community throughout her complex.

"Since becoming an RA, this individual has become involved in numerous organizations around campus, and even holds executive-board positions in some of the organizations," staff continued.

Among her endeavors, she arranged for residents to visit Rose View nursing home to play games and comfort lonely individuals, hosted a Halloween scavenger hunt and trivia program, served a Thanksgiving dinner, and organized a program in which organization representatives spoke in support of campus involvement.

Residence Life staff also selected educational and social "Programs of the Month," as follows:

Educational

• An "Iron-Man" competition, which successfully taught many unwilling residents how to properly iron their shirts. The program was organized by Clayton B. Morrow, a first-year RA at Rose Street Apartments. "His marketing skills... were outstanding and he worked very hard at this program," staff said of the security specialist major from Loysville. "He took a mundane life-skill task and found an amazing way to market his program to the predominantly male population of residents."

Social

• "Pooling at Monoski's," a visit to a Montoursville pool hall, where students had a fun night mingling and getting to know one another. "One of the reasons the program did so well was that teamwork was used throughout the planning and follow-up," staff said. The RAs involved, both in their first year at The Village at Penn College, were Adam J. Sillaman, a radiography student from Mountville, and Douglas E. Bloom, a construction carpentry major from Clearfield.