Residence Life staff members attend regional Resident Assistants/Student Advisors conference

Oct. 30, 2009 -- Staff members from ASU's Office of Residence Life recently traveled to St. Joseph, Mo.,  for the Heartland Resident Assistants/Student Advisors Conference 2009, where the ASU delegates were recognized as presenting some of the best programs at the conference. While at Heartland, they presented four programs, which all placed in the top five programs of the conference. The entire delegation presented an alcohol awareness program, "Party Pursuit," which was designated the top program session of the conference. The delegation consisted of Julie McMahon, associate director, Residence Education; Justin McClure, graduate hall director, Collegiate Park; and resident assistants/community advisors Brittany Cliff, Allie Lewis, Jamie Lynch, Cody McArthur and Bryan Watkins.

Party Pursuit is a program that evolved from the national student organization Everyone’s Talking About Alcohol (ETA2), formed in 1991.Participants played roles that might be seen at a college party, and followed the role-playing with an educational discussion on alcohol, responsibility, and intervention. Jamie Lynch, community advisor (CA) in Red Wolf Den and Julie McMahon teamed up to present a staff motivation program, "Winnie-the-Pooh and Motivation, Too" while at the conference.

This program asked participants to identify with a character from the works of A. A. Milne, ranging from Pooh to Eeyore to Christopher Robin. Then the program identified ways in which each character of the Hundred Acre Wood is motivated and how that motivation translates to staff teams. Justin McClure and Julie McMahon presented a program, "Careers in Student Affairs," to a standing-room-only of eager student staff from Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. The program was designed to assist potential staff recruits in surviving the placement exchange experience and interview processes for graduate hall director positions across the nation.

Finally, Julie McMahon presented an additional program engaging attendees on their interest in the residence life field by addressing the Association of College and University Housing Officers -International (ACUHO-I) internship process, the ACUHO-I STARS College and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Next Generation program opportunities.
           

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