Residence Council Revived After Hiatus

The University of Mary Washington’s National Residence Hall Honorary, (NRHH) is being revived, after a multi-year decline in participation.

The organization devotes itself to promoting leadership, recognition, scholastics and service among leaders living in campus residence halls, according to Office of Residence Life Area Coordinator Kari Stegel-Gent.

According to the Kent State University Chapter of NRHH, the organization was first created by the National Association of College and University Residence Halls at its 1964 conference hosted by the University of Denver.

The UMW chapter of NRHH was once a prominent organization on campus, but between 2007 and 2010, the number of participants drastically fell, Stegel-Gent said.

Stegel-Gent was tasked with determining the general student interest for NRHH during the Spring 2010 semester.

After consulting the Association of Residence Halls and Resident Assistant council members to assess student interest, she contacted members of student life to nominate qualified students for the organization.

“Each student that is nominated has caught someone’s eye for a different reason,” Stegel-Gent said. “Some have strong leadership and programming skills. These are the students that work to make sure that there’s always something going on for our students to attend. Some participate in JRB or Honor Council and firmly adhere and support appropriate standards of conduct on our campus.”

Six of the 10 students nominated were accepted. These students, along with the NRHH committee members, hope to make the organization a well-known presence on campus again.

The organization includes senior Amanda Gold, junior Hannah Baumgardner, senior Kelly Flynn, junior Ashley DuVal, junior Caitlin Brady and junior Mohammad Mesbahi.

The students have their own reasons for participating in NRHH’s revival.

“I accepted my nomination because I wanted to be more involved in the community. So far, I am very happy I joined,” Meshabi said. “We have come up with great ideas for future events and I am very excited to be involved.”

If a student is nominated, they are invited to submit an application to current members of the NRHH for review.

Flynn accepted her nomination, noting that life in residence halls is a large part of attending college.

“As an RA on campus, it was an honor to be nominated and that my work with the residents and in the residence halls was being acknowledged. The other members and I are trying to make this a more significant part of campus in several ways,” Flynn said.

They hope to gain more members, Flynn said, by volunteering at sports events and working with other groups on campus to gain greater exposure for NRHH.

Secretary of NRHH Mesbahi is also excited about making NRHH a well-known presence on campus.

“We also actively look for hard-working students, staff and professors who are doing something for the community and are unappreciated,” Meshabi said. “We try to recognize them and thank them for their work.”