This year is Western’s second year of affiliation with IACURH and National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) and the second year Western students attended the conference. NACURH is the largest student-run organization in the country and is split up into eight different regions. This year the regional conference was at Brigham Young University in Provo.
There is both a regional and national conference yearly. This year, Western was able to send two RDS and 10 Community Council members and RAs. At these conferences, delegates attend programs to learn more about recognition, programming and how other schools structure their Community Councils. The whole conference is very high-energy, with lots of cheering, school spirit and dancing.
Boardroom is a separate aspect of the conference and is mainly for the National Communication Coordinator (NCC). They bid on locations for the next conference and talk about legislation for the organization.
“My favorite part was meeting new people and learning how different schools enhance living on campus,” said Kiri Carmody, the President of Robidoux/Ute Community Council, who attended the conference. “I also learned how to bring back successful events that can be easily implemented on campus for all residents and students.”
With this being the second year that Community Council has been on Western’s campus, there are high hopes to expand it into a Resident Hall Association (RHA), which is how other schools structure their Community Council. An RHA consists of an executive board and positions elected by the other members of the Community Council.
“Our main goal right now is putting together a taskforce who will be really working in the coming semester to grow Community Councils into an even larger organization that can have a greater positive influence across campus and specifically in our residence halls,” said Kaia Ball, the NCC for Western and the Senior Resident Assistant for Robidoux/Ute. “We are also working toward being more involved on the regional and national levels with the organization, so we are looking into ways we can get Community Councils to support that initiative.”
Right now, the role of Community Councils is to grow a community within the residence halls and to recognize residents, RAs and others that do good in the halls. The goal for the next few years is to make Community Council a more established organization with more participation from students in the residence halls. It is a great way for students to get involved on campus and have many opportunities, like being able to attend a leadership conference.
For students who are interested, there are meetings every week for each residence hall on campus. Contact your RA for more information about where and when those meetings are held. Applications for Community Council open at the beginning of the school year.
Story by Taya Olson.
