During my time with Residence Life recognition has become a big part of my job. From every day encouragement via a high-5 to more formal means of recognizing someone's hard work, I think recognizing people and appreciating the work they do is one of the best ways to build staff morale and encourage people to work hard, The two main ways I do this in my current position are through NRHH Of The Month Awards and my position of "Recognition Regent."
STAFF RECOGNITION
As a means of furthering my experience as a RA, my current supervisor has assigned us roles with responsibilities beyond those of our RA job. My task is of "Recognition Regent" where I, along with a co-worker, recognize RA's who are working hard at their jobs and exceeding our expectations.
In order to make this task phenomenally fun and something staff members would look forward to, I came up with the idea for the "Half-Way to Hump Day Hype Challenge." For the challenge, we watch staff members closely and determine who is deserving of the award every two weeks. The award goes to people for positivity, hard-work, overcoming tough incidents, etc. The recipient gets a nice speech and a punny gift. It's an activity that staff members look forward to and really enjoy.
Previous Winners and Puns Include: Maria - "You're o-fish-ally the best" < Received a pet fish De'Avin - "You make being a great RA look like a piece of cake!" < Received a chocolate cake Jason - "You're one in a melon!" < Received a watermelon Kay - "Oh my gourd, you're the best!" < Received a pumpkin Tyler - "Sorry this gift is a little cheesy!" < Received string cheese Carol - "You're the bomb!" < Received a bath bomb Ashab - "That's a wrap on this semester's challenge!" < Received a roll of wrapping paper Marlaina - "Winner winner chicken dinner!" < Received a Canes chicken finger meal Zac - "You're hot stuff" < Received a large bottle of Sriracha
NRHH Of the Month Awards
As a means of more formal recognition, the UK chapter of NRHH accepts nominations for monthly "Of the Month" awards where they showcase programs, people, and things of different categories and the impact they are making on the residence hall communities. For my building I have written and won 7 of these awards - listed below.
First Year Student(s)- The Boys in Room 124 Aug. 2018 Diversity Program - The Garden of Us Mar. 2018 Institution Faculty/Staff - Dr. Jonathan Golding Mar. 2018 Organization of the Month - UK Mock Trial Team Feb. 2018 Social Program of the Month - Bring Back the 90s Floor Meeting Jan. 2018 KARH Best of the Bluegrass Organization – College Mentors for Kids Dec. 2017 Organization of the Month – College Mentors for Kids Dec. 2017 Passive Program of the Month – It’s the Great Pumpkin, Boyd Hall Oct. 2017 Educational Program of the Month – Chips and Tips Oct. 2017 Spotlight of the Month – An Ode to Elevator A Oct. 2017 Residential Community of the Month – Boyd Hall: 1st Floor Best Floor Sept. 2017 Social Program of the Month – Netflix and Chili Aug. 2017 First Year Student of the Month – Morgan Thomas Mar. 2017
THE BOYS IN 124 JUST WON NACURH FIRST YEAR STUDENT OF THE MONTH!
For those of you who don't follow NRHH closely, this is a national award. The winner from each campus moves to the regional level, and the winner from the regional level moves on to the national level. My OTM won nationally, and I could not be more proud of the sweet boys who earned it. To read it, see below!