Saint Mary's hosted the Indiana Residence Hall Organization Conference (IRHOC) this past Friday and Saturday. Minus a few minor glitches with a few of the programs, the conference went well, said Residence Hall Association president Maura Clougherty. Visiting students responded well to the Saint Mary's programs.
"I heard a lot of positive feedback from the programs Saint Mary's put on," Clougherty said.
Saint Mary's Diversity Student Leadership Conference and the "Sex Talk with SMC" were the two programs hosted by Saint Mary's with the most students in attendance.
Some of the presentations hosted by other universities included "Ice, Ice Breaker," "Diversi-beads," and "Dress for Success."
Clougherty said she found information at one of the presentations applicable to her duties as RHA president.
"[The presentation] was put on by [Indiana University] and was entitled 'Oh No! Not Another Boring Meeting,'" Clougherty said. "I found this helpful since I run the RHA meetings; I learned ways to make our meetings more interactive."
The programs were not the only learning that went along with the conference. The experience of planning the conference also taught those involved, Clougherty said.
"This experience of planning the conference helped me a lot," she said. "I want to go into event planning so I really learned how to work with different people. I also learned a lot of ways to better run and manage my RHA board."
In addition to receiving new information and experience with planning the event, Saint Mary's RHA members received several awards at the closing awards ceremony on Saturday night. Katie McInerny, RHA secretary, won a "Directorship Pin."
McInerny and McClougherty both received "Four Year Service" pins from the IRHOC honoring their four years of service involved in RHA and Hall Council during their four years and Saint Mary's. Kathy Chlebda received the "First Year Experience" award.
Chlebda was diagnosed with lymphoma in August 2006 and had a relpse in Jan. 2007. She is a member of the Class of 2011, but took a leave of absence from the College after her first semester in Fall 2007.
