Five resident advisors were honored Tuesday for building a sense of community in their residence halls at the 2002 Nancy Welch Awards ceremony.
The award, given each year in honor of the late Nancy Welch, resident coordinator of UB's Rachel Carson College, was presented to resident advisors Brian Clare, Adam Haney, Ivan Loh, Corinne Novak and Michael Bernhard.
Clare, a resident advisor in the Spaulding Quad of the Ellicott complex, won first place for his "Spaulbados Beach Party" program.
"We wanted people in the hall to get a chance to know each other and have some fun," said Clare. Bringing the sprit of Barbados to Spaulding in early March, Clare's program attracted more than 200 students and offered limbo contests, free hot dogs, fruits and veggies, and information on how to stay fit during Buffalo's cold winter months.
"It gave everyone a break from midterm stress and a break from the weather," he said.
According to Clare, students often befriend the resident advisors who live on their floor because they see the residents on a daily basis, but the students may find it difficult to get to know other students living in the rest of their building. The beach party, funded by the Spaulding Hall Council, was designed to give students an opportunity to interact with other hall residents and bring a stronger feeling of community to Spaulding.
Second place went to Haney, who developed a program focusing on residential safety. A sophomore communication major, Haney's "Wanna Talk About Safety?" program was prompted by an incident of forced entry and burglary in the residence halls.
Loh and Novak tied for third place. Novak, a senior psychology major and RA, developed the "Brain Teaser" trivia game on her floor in Goodyear Hall. In the game, residents answer questions about American history and international issues. Weekly winners receive a bag of candy.
"The program got my residents to interact with each other more, and to learn more about different cultures and interesting issues," said Novak.
"The presenters of the Nancy Welch Awards really appreciate the work RAs do in the resident halls, and that is really great," said Novak.
Loh, a junior psychology major from Singapore, received his third place award for developing a martial arts program. The program exposed residents to the history of martial arts with demonstrations from local experts and offered a free authentic Chinese meal.
Bernhard was honored for his "Let's Talk About Sex" program, which brought Spaulding Quad freshmen together in October to learn about safe sex, STD's, birth control and other aspects of sexuality.
During "Let's Talk About Sex," students gathered in Spaulding's locked lounge and others across campus were able to ask a health education and human services expert sex-related questions, broadcast on UB's WRUB radio station. For their bravery, students who asked questions received free condoms from WRUB.
Bernhard said he wanted to show students that the residential community programs could be fun and informative, which could make them more willing to attend future programs.
"We wanted to establish a sense of community early in the semester and give residents a positive impression of what these programs can be like. Students had a lot of laughs and also learned about an important issue," said Bernhard.
