Who’s the NRHH Outstanding Chapter of the Year?

University of Wisconsin -La Crosse

University of Wisconsin - La Crosse NRHH Outstanding Chapter of the Year GLACURH 2O15 Saginaw Valley State University

Table of ContentsTable of Contents………………………….………….…………1

!Meet the Characters (Exec Team)………….………….………2-3

!Bikini Bottom 101 (Chapter History)….……………….……….4

!Town Charter (Mission Statement)…….………………………..4

!Goofy Goober Goals (Chapter Goals).………………….…….5-6

!Krusty Krab Expense Report (Chapter Budget)….….………….7

!Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (NRHH/RHAC Bond).………8

!Red Onion of Recognition………………………………………9

!Sesame Seed Bun of Service……………….………………..…10

!Lettuce of Leadership………………………………………..…11

!Secret Sauce of Scholastics………………………………….…12

!F Is For Friends (National, Regional, State Communication)…13

!What I Learned In Boating School Is (Chapter Quotes)..…..14-15

!Letters of Recommendation……………………………….16-18

1

Meet the Characters (Exec Board)

SpongeBob SquarePants President (Alex Miller) Oversees all functions and operations of the NRHH Chapter and presides over all meetings. Supervises selection committee and is responsible for its operation. Serves as the interpreter of the NRHH constitution, and presides as the NRHH representative at all functions on campus and promotes our Chapter across campus.

Patrick Star Vice President (Jack Rettler)

Shall preside as president if president is unavailable. Serves as Co-Chair of the Programing and Event Promotion (PEP) Committee.

Organizes one or more social events for chapter members each year. The VP shall convene and chair the constitution committee and lastly they will complete additional duties as assigned by the

President.

Sandy Cheeks Secretary (Betsy Katschke) Keeps an accurate record of all official proceedings of NRHH, including, but not limited to, chapter gathering reminders and minutes. Distributes minutes to chapter within 5 days of the chapter gathering. Maintains accurate roll of all members and oversees the NRHH website. Alongside the VP, serves as a co-chair of the PEP Committee.

2

Characters (Continued) Eugene H. Krabs Finance and Fundraising Coordinator (Ryan Hoye) Handles all financial matters pertaining to the NRHH chapter. Creates a proposed allocation of funds prior to first chapter gathering of the academic year. Meets with the Assistant Director of Residence Life for Operations for monthly audits. Oversees all general fund requests business. Ensures our chapter is practicing fiscal responsibility. Oversees the Fundraising Committee.

Squidward Tentacles Community Service Coordinator (Beau Sandelback)

Coordinates volunteer opportunities for the chapter, included one that shall be in conjunction with Residence Hall Association Council. Keeps an updated record of member service hours.

Oversees the Service Committee.

Gary the Snail OTM Coordinator (Jacob Sparks) Serves as the chairperson of the OTM voting committee. Maintains all information regarding past winners, member OTM submissions, and promotes OTMs across halls on campus. Serves as the co-chair of the Recognition Committee.

Sheldon J. Plankton Communications Coordinator (Caitlynn Hinytzke)

Attends all state, regional, and national conferences on behalf of NRHH. Acts as a liaison between the University of

Wisconsin La Crosse ’s NRHH chapter and other NRHH affiliations. Also co-chairs the Recognition Committee.

3

Our NRHH chapter at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was founded in 1978 as one of many student-run and supported organizations. In November of 1997, our NRHH chapter voted to officially name our chapter “The Carol Bassuener Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.” This name reflects and commemorates the dedication, enthusiasm, and energy that longtime advisor Carol Bassuener has given to our chapter. In May 1998, or chapter was selected as the national NRHH chapter of the year. In November 2000 and again in 2012, our chapter was selected as the GLACURH regional NRHH chapter of the year.

The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Carol Bassuener Chapter of National Residence Hall Honorary, or NRHH, is dedicated to promoting the values of service and recognition. NRHH strives to develop and empower leaders, encourage the pursuit of academic excellence, serve our community, and recognize the successes of our campus. Through these initiatives, NRHH aspires to create an engaging and inclusive residence hall environment for all.

Bikini Bottom 1O1 (Chapter History)

Town Charter (Mission Statement)

4

Goofy Goober Goals (Chapter Goals)

Fulfill Our Chapter Capacity/Host a Fall Induction Status: In Progress For many years here at UW-L our NRHH Chapter has only hosted Spring Inductions. Not for any tangible reason other than “that’s the way it’s always been done.” In November of 2014, our chapter hosted its first Fall Induction. We inducted 6 new members and filled our chapter capacity. Seeing that this year we have the opportunity to fill more spots, our chapter is in the process of planning for our upcoming Fall Induction. !Consolidate our Teams Status: Accomplished In December of 2014, we had a major change to the structure of our NRHH Chapter. We wanted to combine our existing seven committee’s with different focuses (i.e. Campus Recognition, Public Relations, OTM’s, etc.) into just four teams: Recognition, Scholastics, Service, and Leadership. We decided to make this change because we didn’t want to be simply going through the motions of getting things done, we truly wanted to embody what NRHH stands for, which at the time was the pillars. When NRHH transitioned to the new values of Service and Recognition, we again restructured how our teams were formatted. We decided to keep the Service and Recognition committees. In addition we created a Fundraising committee and Programing and Event Planning (PEP) committee. These additional two committees are focused around the goals of our chapter. !Host an All Campus Event Status: Accomplished With the creation of the new Programing and Event Planning committee, our chapter is looking forward to hosting more all campus events. In the Spring of 2015, our chapter hosted a Quidditch match from the popular Harry Potter series. This was an activity that brought residents from outside our chapter together and helped to promote NRHH on campus and let residents know what our chapter is and how to become involved. Looking ahead, our chapter is developing a campus wide event that can be hosted year after year. 5

Goofy Goober Goals (Continued)

Create a New Fundraiser/Fiscal Responsibility Status: In Progress Two years ago, our Chapter’s key source of revenue (commission from bed loft rental) was withdrawn. Our campus switched to having permanent lofts in the residence halls, leaving our chapter struggling to come up with the finances we’ve had for the past several years. We reduced our allotted spending by a total of $6,585 from last year. However, we still want to become financially self-sufficient. To achieve this goal we are in the process of creating a UW-L calendar that will be available for parents to purchase during freshman registration and move in day. This calendar will focus on important campus dates such as football games, tuition deadlines, scholarship applications, housing applications, etc. We are hoping that this fundraiser will help our Chapter get back on its feet financially. We have also established a Fundraising Committee that is devoted to helping our Chapter find reliable sources of income for the future. !Exceed all Requirements (GPA, Service Hours, OTM’s) Status: Accomplished Our Chapter is one that sets its sights high. When given a required number to reach, we want to reach higher, whether it’s our grade point average, how many hours we serve, or how many OTM’s we write. Our Chapter is always looking to do better. For example, we decided that we could do better than the required 2.5 GPA. Each member set their own GPA goal that was higher than 2.5, and the majority of our members reached/exceeded their own individual goals. Each member is required to have four service hours completed each semester. With a chapter size of 35, our Chapter should be attaining 140 hours of community service each semester. Last semester, our Chapter racked up a grand total of 173 hours serving our community. This is a number we are very proud of. Our Chapter has been meeting for a little over a month now, and we have already accumulated 37 hours of community service for the semester. Lastly, we have been making vast efforts to improve the number of OTM’s written. In the last academic year, 170 OTM’s were submitted on our campus! Of those 170 OTM’s, 72 were written by NRHH members, with the remming coming from non chapter residents. Meaning, not only are we busy writing them, but also getting others to write them as well. 6

Krusty Krab Expense Report (Chapter Budget)

As mentioned in the goals section - our sources of funding coming from bed loft sales was phased out two years ago. Thus, we were left to not only budget strategically, but also to create a new fundraiser to remain self-sufficient. We are in the process of creating a school calendar to sell to parents during freshmen registrations and orientations, which will hopefully generate enough revenue to keep us afloat. Not only will this calendar serve as a mean of income for our Chapter, but also serve as a resource for the parents of our residents. So far our chapter has been able to completely support ourselves financially without any assistance from the Office of Residence Life, a goal that we are continuing to focus on. In order to achieve this, we have cut or allotted spending by $6,585 compared to last year.

7

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (NRHH/RHAC Bond)

Here at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, the National Residence Hall Honorary and the Residence Hall Association Council (RHAC) work very closely in helping to improve life across campus. For the past three years the president of RHAC has been a member of NRHH helping to strengthen the bond between these two organizations on campus. !Our chapter had a position on the executive board that was created for the sole purpose of maintaining a positive relationship between the two organizations. The NRHH/RHAC Liaison position was in charge of setting up social events and programs between these two organizations as well as report to each group what the other group is currently doing. !We have recently altered this position. Through amending our constitution, chapter members are now required to attend one RHAC meeting per academic year. The reason behind this change is due to the large interest in running for the NRHH/RHAC Liaison position and also to help our member interact and experience RHAC for themselves. This helps create a better bond with the two organizations and allow more interactions between the two. This has also made NRHH more visible and in turn has given our chapter many faces and points of contacts to our sister residence life organization. Last years RHAC and NRHH

presidents8

This years RHAC and NRHH presidents

The Secret Krabby Patty Recipe (Our Chapter’s Recipe for Success)

Red Onion of Recognition

Last year, our chapter started a new tradition entitled “Pass the Pillar.” This recognition game is a way our Chapter acknowledges a specific member for their substantial contributions to NRHH and how they exemplified the “pillars.” At each bi-weekly chapter gathering, the previous recipient will select a new recipient of the pillar and explain how deserving they believe their successor to be of this award. With the new transition into values, our Chapter still wanted to incorporate this award. As a group, we decided to implement “Deliver the Diamond.” This has become a treasured activity amongst our Chapter.

Mission Recognition was an activity that was introduced last year as well. This is when our Chapter takes time out of our bi-weekly meetings to go around to various halls and recognize students living on campus. We hand out compliments, candy, and NRHH pens. Both residents and our Chapter members were very excited about this new initiative. This year, our Chapter took time out of a chapter gathering to recognize the leadership teams in each hall with certificates and candy.

Shout-outs to fellow members at the end of the our chapter gatherings is one of the most popular traditions at our meetings. In fact, people had so many compliments to deliver, we had to restrict the number of shout-outs to two per person, as they were starting to take up to twenty minutes to read them all!

9

Sesame Seed Bun of ServiceOur constitution conveys that each NRHH member completes a

minimum of four service hours per semester. Although this idea sounds simple, the action is much more complicated, because what happens in those four hours is

pretty impactful.

Rotary Lights The Carol Bassuener Chapter braves the chilly December temperatures simply because of their passion for service and NRHH. Each year we decorate a tree in Riverside Park, with diamond, lights, and a chapter sign. Visitors can marvel at our organization and wonder at the community we create.

Day of Service One incredible opportunity that our Chapter engages in every year is the Day of Service. Our Chapter serves a small portion of the 200+ students that set out to better the community during this campus wide day dedicated to service. Our chapter continues to be a strong presence at this event that runs parallel with our values.

And many more… These two service opportunities are just the top of the Krabby Patty. Our chapter has helped out numerous other causes including: River Watch (a local safety patrol), our local Children’s Museum, nursing homes, and even the La Crosse

Community Eco Park.10

Lettuce of Leadership

Wanting to stay on top of our leadership game, our Chapter recruited one of the most leadership fixated Hall Directors on our campus – who used to serve as an NRHH President back in his day – to come speak to us about leadership. This workshop was an inspiration to our Chapter, and every day we are working on implementing the skills and techniques we learned during this gathering.

At the beginning of each chapter gathering, two chapter members present an activity to our chapter. This activity is often a team developing activity or a get to know you activity. This presents opportunities for members to take an active leadership role in the chapter gatherings.

Here at UW-L, our Chapter is very excited about the new values. However, we wanted to make sure that there was still a place for Leadership and

Scholastics, as these have been of the upmost importance to us and they are what we have always stood for. In order to ensure that we didn't lose this side of our Chapter completely, we are still very active in maintaining our

leadership and scholastic ability within our Chapter.

11

Secret Sauce of Scholastics

A Chapter that studies together, gets A’s together, or at least that is our motto during finals week. During the study day on our campus, our Chapter all gets together to rigorously student together, offering encouragement, support, and most importantly snacks to one another.

Another way we are promoting scholastics within our Chapter is through goal setting. Early in the year, each member wrote their own personal GPA goal, exceeding the Chapter’s requirement of 2.5. The average goal GPA was 3.3, which we believe is reflective of our Chapter’s desire to succeed academically. We also had members write a scholastic goal not related to GPA. For example, meet with professors during office hours. We did this to promote the fact that there is more to scholastics than merely GPA, as well as to help our chapter focus on a non-numerical academic goal.

To encourage scholastic excellence outside of our Chapter, we have participated in Mission Recognitions that centered around residents who are studying in the halls. This helps residents realize that their hard work in academics is being noticed and appreciated. 12

F is For Friends Who Do Things Together (Communication and Support on Local, Regional, and National Levels)

During the past year our Chapter has been an outstanding member of all levels of Wisconsin United Residence Hall Association (WURHA), GLACURH, and NACURH. Consistently, our Chapter has been sending representatives to all three conferences as well as the additional business conferences related to our regional and statewide organizations.

This past year, our Chapter had the pleasure of hosting the WURHA president Alex Miller. She lead our statewide organization with passion and dedication, and our Chapter was honored to support her in that position.

13

What I Learned In Boating School Is…… (Chapter Member Quotes)

“I love the community that this Chapter provides, the opportunity to get to know so many great people from around campus is awesome.”

“Our NRHH Chapter combines on campus residents from many different organizations including Greek Life, residence life, our Leadership and Involvement Center, and many more. This along with many other aspects make our Chapter unique.”

“I love being a part of a Chapter with a mutual admiration for all important things - recognition, service, leadership, academics, and most importantly, pie!”

“NRHH is a great way to give back to our residence life that has given so much to us.”

14

Chapter Member Quotes (Continued)

“NRHH = Community coming together, serving, leading, learning, recognizing, and loving.”

“I am truly blessed and honored to be a part of the NRHH: Carol Bassuener Chapter.”

“We hit the Jackpot by being able to be a part of such a unique Chapter and to us - that’s kind of a big deal.”

15

Office of Residence Life University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | 1725 State St. | La Crosse, WI 54601 USA

Phone: 608.785.8075 | Fax: 608.785.8078

! To the NRHH Outstanding Chapter of the Year Selection Committee: It is a great pleasure to include a letter of support for the Carol Bassuener Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary as the NRHH Outstanding Chapter of the Year. In the past year, this group of impressive individuals has exceeded expectations in displaying the two values of NRHH, Service and Recognition, as well as continuing to lead and uphold high academic standing. I was lucky to be inducted in the Spring of 2014, and since then I have been amazed at what this chapter has accomplished. We started the year after the GLACURH 2014 conference, and had a strong second semester, filled with new members, and with the new concept of values. For the first time we had a fall induction, and inducted 6 new members. Along with new members, we transformed from committees under each pillar to teams that focus on service and recognition, as well as fundraising, and events and promotion for our chapter. In the spring semester, a chapter member brought the idea of NRHH Appreciation week to our chapter gatherings, and our chapter responded very positively. We had an entire week dedicated to the different areas our chapter focuses on. This year we will be recreating NRHH Appreciation week and making it bigger and better to get our name across campus. Our chapter brings a lot to the office of residence life here at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. This past year we lead the Residence Life day of service. This is a day where each staff member on the UW-L campus goes in a group with three to ten other staff members from different residence halls and goes and serves a different place in the community. This is one way that we uphold our values with others outside of our chapter. The Carol Bassuener chapter of NRHH is upholding leadership and service on a statewide level as well. This past year at the WURHA(Wisconsin United Residence Hall Association) conference at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville, our chapter won the WHIL Chapter of the year bid, the WHIL CC of the year bid, and finally, WHIL Member of the year. This year we are going to be skyping in smaller Wisconsin schools, so they can view chapter gathering from a strong chapter, and hopefully improve their own chapter at their respective schools. After a strong year with the state, we hope to improve our presence at the regional level by continuing to uphold the values of service and recognition, but making the wonderful Carol Bassuener chapter of NRHH more well known. Diamond appreciation, Alex Miller President, Carol Bassuener Chapter !!

16

Office of Residence Life University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | 1725 State St. | La Crosse, WI 54601 USA

Phone: 608.785.8075 | Fax: 608.785.8078

! To whom it may concern, My name is Bridget Fish and I am the president of the Residence Hall Association Council at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Last year, I was the Vice President of University Affairs for RHAC and it was my first exposure to the NRHH/RHAC relationship on our campus. The Carol Bassuener Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary does a lot for the UW – La Crosse campus, and they deserve to be chapter of the year for the Great Lakes Affiliation of College and University Residence Halls. First off, the Carol Bassuener Chapter has been doing a fall induction of new members, giving more people the opportunity to get involved. With the switch from the four pillars to the two values, I think this is a great move for our chapter to have made because it lets others have more opportunities to serve and recognize others on campus. NRHH at UW-L has creative ways, besides OTMs, of recognizing on campus. Throughout the year, they do “Mission Recognition” to recognize people who may not always receive the praise they deserve. In the past, they have gone through halls and handed candy to residents to remind them they rock. Recently, they made certificates for the core leaders from the halls. Another way our NRHH recognizes is through the Out of the Blue Award. The way this works is a chapter member can nominate a campus org or office they think deserves recognition. Past winners include our childcare center, Einstein’s Brothers, Residence Life, and many more. With the switch from the four pillars to the two values, the Carol Bassuener Chapter is working to find more fun and interesting ways to recognize great people and things on the UW-L campus. Secondly, there is the ever-growing relationship between RHAC and NRHH. Historically, there has been a permanent NRHH/RHAC liaison. Last year, this changed to a rotating chair, so each week a different member of NRHH would come as the liaison. I believe this is beneficial for both organizations because it helps RHAC see everyone on NRHH and vice versa. Getting the familiarity with NRHH helps our organization greatly because it exposes more people to the great things NRHH does on the UW-L campus. The Carol Bassuener Chapter deserves chapter of the year for GLACURH because of the great work they are putting into service and recognition on the UW-L campus. I believe their work towards a better RHAC and NRHH relationship should be recognized as well. Having a strong bond between the two will allow the organizations to help each other out with programming, service, and recognition campus wide. I am look forward to continuing this relationship throughout the year. Sincerely, Bridget Fish Residence Hall Association Council President National Residence Hall Honorary Member !

17

Office of Residence Life University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | 1725 State St. | La Crosse, WI 54601 USA

Phone: 608.785.8075 | Fax: 608.785.8078

!October!12th,!2015!!Dear!Selection!Committee,!!It!is!with!ease!that!we!write!a!letter!of!support!for!the!National!Residence!Hall!Honorary!at!the!University!of!WisconsinELa!Crosse!for!the!bid!of!NRHH!Outstanding!Chapter!of!the!Year!for!GLACURH.!!We!have!had!the!privilege!to!be!the!Advisors!to!NRHH.!!We!would!like!to!share!with!you!some!accomplishments!from!this!past!year.!!

• NRHH!conducted!410!Service!Hours!in!the!La!Crosse!Community!over!the!course!of!the!last!year!including!Bethany!St.!Joseph,!Children’s!Museum:!Night!at!the!Museum,!EGGstravaganza,!and!Tinker!Time,!Coulee!Region!Humane!Society,!La!Crosse!Jaycees:!Neighbor’s!Day,!Myrick!Hixon!EcoPark:!Storytelling!Festival,!Enchanted!Forest,!!RiverWatch,!The!Rotary!Club:!Rotary!Lights,!!Color!Dash!5k!Run/Walk,!Organic!Farming,!Shrine!of!Guadalupe!

• NRHH!coordinated!a!Service!Day!during!Residence!Life!Winter!Training!for!over!200!student!staff!and!core!leaders!to!provide!service!to!the!La!Crosse!community.!!

• NRHH!recognized!professionals!around!campus!for!their!outstanding!efforts!to!serve!students.!• NRHH!continued!an!NRHH!initiative!campus!award!called!the!“Out!of!the!Blue!Award”!and!

identified!the!outstanding!contributions!some!offices!have!made!to!student!success!and!framed!an!award!for!them!to!hang!in!their!office.!

• The!Chapter!has!been!committed!to!creating!unity!with!the!chapter!and!has!taken!retreats!to!further!development!relationships!in!the!chapter!and!make!progress!on!chapter!goals.!!

• NRHH!continues!to!update!and!modernized!our!constitution!and!create!best!practices!to!set!up!future!chapters!for!success.!!!

• NRHH!continuously!promotes!the!Of!The!Month!Recognition!Program!with!regional!winners.!!!• NRHH!works!to!create!a!positive!image!of!NRHH!and!increase!awareness!of!NRHH!with!

residential!students.!!NRHH!at!UWELa!Crosse!is!a!critical!component!to!our!residence!life!program.!!Without!NRHH!and!the!initiatives!employed!by!this!organization!there!would!be!a!noticeable!void.!!The!energy,!spirit!and!commitment!by!our!chapter!members!is!incredible!and!reverberates!through!campus.!!We!are!very!proud!of!the!NRHH!Chapter!at!the!University!of!WisconsinELa!Crosse.!!This!is!a!high!caliber!student!organization!and!represents!UWELa!Crosse,!WURHA,!GLACURH!and!NARURH!is!an!exemplary!fashion.!!We!are!proud!of!our!chapters’!past!accomplishments!and!their!achievements!yet!to!come.!!We!support!your!decision!to!award!them!the!NRHH!Outstanding!Chapter!of!the!Year.!!!Patrick!Heise!! ! Luke!Visser!NRHH!Advisor!! ! NRHH!Advisor! !Assistant!Director!of!Residence!Life!! ! Residence!Hall!Director!!University!of!WisconsinELa!Crosse!!! ! ! ! ! University!of!WisconsinELa!Crosse!!

18