Campus Winner
Month: October 2006

NACURH, INC.

Community of the Month

School: Purdue University Region: GLACURH
Nominee: Warren 2 Residents Nominator: Kristine Holst

On-Campus Population: 11500 Chapter Size: 30

Please explain the outstanding contributions of the nominee during the month of nomination

I want to nominate my residents for the Community OTM. I could tell from the start of the year that they were going to be caring and involved. But this month they proved to be an outstanding ladies and a tight-knit community. During the second week of October, Becki, one of my residents, had to go home because her grandmother was very sick. The day after she went home, her grandmother passed away. Lauren, Becki's roommate informed me and the other residents about what had happened. Becki wouldn't be coming back until after the funeral. As a group, the residents decided to decorate her room and place cards around her desk showing their love and support. We also went out and got her a teddy bear. When Becki returned she was overwhelmed by the support she received. Losing a loved one during the school year can be a very hard experience. It was wonderful to see how the ladies came through for Becki and helped her through it all. Another example of how my residents have bonded with each other to form a community came during the week-long Halloween activities. Around the 18th we decorated the floor for Halloween. I thought I would only have a few residents come out, but I had over 20! All the girls that came out were working together and helping each other out (even with those they hadn't talked as much with before). In addition to coming out to help decorate, they also took the initiative to go around the floor and encourage others to come help. It was a wonderful experience to see them all enthusiastically taking part in the decorating. They were a team! Some of them even went as far as to bring out their own supplies when we had used up the ones I had provided. During the entire week I had residents come to me wanting help out even more to make the floor as spooky as possible. Others would take time to pick up decorations that had fallen to the ground and put them back in their spots. On Halloween we had trick-or- treaters come through our floor and most of my residents participated. They dressed up and bought candy for the kids. When they ran low on candy they would share with each other. That night we also won "Most Resourceful" in the Halloween Floor Decorating Contest. That wouldn't have been possible without my residents' combined efforts. I was really happy to see them all working together and enjoying each other's company throughout the week, but what made me happiest was to see that they truly consider the floor their home, not just place where the come to eat and sleep... and they don't just acknowledge their floormates, they really care about becoming friends.

Word Count: 466


Date of entry into database: 2006-11-05 15:29:28

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