Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Residence Hall Association (RHA) was recently given the Residence Hall Organization (RHO) Building Block of the Year Award, as well as winning Best Banner Award, Student of the Year Award, Advisor of the Year Award, and National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) Member of the Year Award by the Wisconsin United Residence Hall Association (WURHA).

The purpose of the RHA on campus is to promote an interest and understanding among residents pertaining to their campus environment and serve as a general forum for improving residence hall life. Meeting on a weekly basis, RHA deals with a variety of inter-hall concerns and activities including: recommending housing policy revisions; appropriating funding for residence hall activities; planning and sponsoring community programs such as the Thanksgiving Charity Drive, Residence Hall Daze, Blood Drives, etc.; approving hall improvement projects; fundraising for projects through fruit baskets, Fast Aid kits and linen sales; and representing UWP at state, regional and national residence hall leadership conferences. A detailed "bid" for the RHO Building Block of the Year Award was written by UW-Platteville RHA communications coordinator Kenny Brotheridge, a sophomore political science major with a minor in business administration. The "bid" contained information on the structure of UW-Platteville's RHA, goals and objectives, various programs from the past year, state involvement and several letters of reference.

In support of the UW-Platteville RHA, Rhonda Viney, director of student housing, indicates that this year's executive board has not only been active, but they have also shown strong leadership skills building a foundation for the other members to learn about the organization and be positive contributors. "They have devoted time to ensure that processes, procedures, activities and programs are better documented and files are maintained more effectively. They have challenged each other to work together with projects and also assume more responsibility for the tasks within their individual roles." Executive board members for 2005-06 include Frank Moullet, president; Kellie Reed, vice president; Katylynn Gher, secretary; Bryce Schleicher, treasurer; and Brotheridge, national communications coordinator. RHA Hall representatives change each semester and include two students from each of the nine residence halls on campus. Student of the Year went to UWP's Marcus Anderson, a junior majoring in criminal justice and Spanish, who has attended every residence hall conference since February 2005. Anderson will be serving on the WURHA directorship for the 2006-2007 academic school year as the NRHH chair. This will mark the first time in over five years that a student from UWP will serve on a directorship in the state and region.

Making significant contributions to NRHH over the past few years, the NRHH Member of the Year award went to Kyle Brueckner, a senior majoring in industrial technology management from Sun Prairie. Brueckner is serving as the UW-Platteville NRHH president for the 2005-06 school year. Rachel Wussow, resident director in UWP's Brockert Hall, received the Advisor of the Year award at the conference. After receiving her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and her master's from Texas Tech University, Wussow is now serving UWP in her second year as a resident director. Wussow has served UWP as the NRHH advisor and attended numerous leadership conferences over the past year. Additional awards were given to Jennifer Jacob, a senior elementary education major with an early childhood minor from Menasha, for presenting a top 10 program at WURHA; Anderson and Jacob for serving for two years on a RHO; and Anderson and Brotheridge, receiving the STAR Pin for their service, tenacity, attitude and reliability in the organization. "I am extremely proud to be a part of two organizations that have gone above and beyond in numerous ways to improve the on campus community over the past year," indicates Brotheridge. "Both NRHH and RHA have come a long way over the past year to improve residence life here at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. All of the awards that UWP received at WURHA were very deserved. This was the first time that UWP has ever won awards at WURHA." "It's been very rewarding to be recognized as one of the best Residence Hall Organizations in the entire state," says RHA president Moullett, a sophomore student at UWP. "At the beginning of the year we set really high goals for ourselves and work together as a team to reach them. We were able to do that and as a result not only did we reach our goals and receive great recognition for it, but each and every one of us grew as an individual and as a leader."

Contact: Kenny Brotheridge, Residence Hall Association, (608) 342-1844, brotherk@uwplatt.edu"

Prepared by: Marsha Pauly, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194,paulym@uwplatt.edu"