The RHA at WSU has a spring tradition dating back as long as anyone can remember called Spring Hall Week. Spring Hall Week is a week long competition similar to our Homecoming to remind residents how awesome to live in the residence halls. Around mid January the RHA Programming Committee began planning for the celebration. They had noted that for the past few years, attendance and excitement to Spring Hall Week has been lackluster. They made it their goal to set the standard for all Spring Hall Weeks to follow. The Programming Committee modeled Spring Hall Week after WSU's annual homecoming in the fall. While choosing a theme, many committee members came up with cool ideas including beach party, or party like it's the end of the world because this would be the last Spring Hall Week before the predicted end of the world in 2012. However, the committee decided on "Cougar Nations". This gave the committee the opportunity to be good community partners and team up with study abroad programs for the implementation of Spring Hall Week. The Committee also teamed up with NRHH to implement some programs.

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The whole event started on Sunday March 25th with Fear Factor. Each hall sent 2 contestants to compete in events involving completely safe dishes to eat that looked unappetizing, twister with condiments, sticking feet into ice baths to remove ping pong balls, and attempting to stick as many peep bunnies in their mouth. On Monday we held a Rock-A-Thon where each hall would have an hour to work a donation collection booth attracting donations in anyway they could. This was a chance for halls to display their creativity while giving to charity. On Tuesday we had two events, the amazing race and Mr./Miss. WSU. The amazing race was facilitated by the NRHH and was based off the game show. Mr./Miss. WSU was a pageant style event where contestants were asked to showcase their Cougar Spirit, A Talent and their poise through multiple events. The RHA President, NRHH President and a fill in for the reigning Mr. WSU were the judges. On Wednesday all the halls decorated a common area based off of a country they were assigned at the beginning of the week. A Spring Hall Week tradition is a sustainable sculpture building competition and this was incorporating into hall decorating. On Thursday The RHA Programming Committee held field games including a ball toss, tug of war and a relay race. On Friday WSU RHA hosted the WSU Undie Run “Undress to Dress others”. Participants were asked to undress to their underwear and donate all of the clothing they removed. RHA collected 3 trash bags and a large box of clothing. This event was so exciting that it drew the campus newspapers as well as the campus television station. After the run we had an undies after dark party complete with inflatable toys, comedians, and different on campus groups promoting their events. This was also closing ceremonies for the week. The most exciting part of the event was seeing all of the halls come together to showcase why their hall is fantastic. In the fall when homecoming is, most of the work falls on the RA’s but for Spring Hall Week, RA involvement was squandered by the excitement of hall government. Another real exciting feature of Spring Hall Week was the opportunity to pair up with on campus organizations. These organizations included the Student Entertainment Board, Student Involvement, Athletics, Scheduling, Study Abroad, International Students Council, and many cultural organizations.

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We had two main goals throughout the week. One was to revamp Spring Hall Week to make it as exciting as living in the residence halls is. The second was to bring together a multitude of on campus organizations. We accomplished our first goal by simply brainstorming. The RHA Programming Committee is made up of individuals living across the residence hall system. We planned something we though would be cool because it was an accurate representation of student interests. We also took ideas in place from previous years and developed them into a functional program. There were some new twists thrown in as well that will hopefully become tradition of sorts. Our second goal was to bring together on campus organizations. Most of this goal was accomplished in the last event, the Undies Run and Undies After Dark Party. For the undes run we needed help from the WSU PD all the way to the vice presidents approval. At the after party we had a lot of groups come and showcase what they were all about. We had the International Student Council come and promote there programs all the way to the Middle Eastern Club taking orders for hookahs.

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Our goals were orientated towards positive and lasting effects. We really strived to lay some foundation work so that whoever plans Spring Hall Week last year will have an easy and painless process. The committee who was involved in planning Spring Hall Week has a renewed investment in programming as well as RHA. Most of the committee members are planning on returning to the RHA and would like to remain on the committee. One member is even running for Director of Programming, and another is planning on running for the position the year after. Hopefully this will leave a lasting legacy. Some out of the RHA effects include excitement to live in the residence halls, and invaluable connections with other organizations. Hopefully Spring Hall Week reminds residents why living in the halls is great. If residents got anything out of the program, they would have valuable leadership and service skills gained from representing their hall and making connections. Inter group relations have increased dramatically because of this program. In fact, the Student Entertainment Board though this program was so cool, they gave the RHA two front row tickets to Springfest featuring 3 Oh 3 to give out during the event.

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Spring Hall Week was fantastic. We laid some instrumental groundwork for generations to come so that when they plan this week, it will be painless. We all learned some very important leadership, time management, and administrative lessons that can be applied to wherever anyone finds themselves. Residents were reminded of why they love where they live. Inter group connections were. But most important of all, this program allowed the RHA to be see as a powerful campus organization who deeply cares for everyone living in a hall as well as anyone who needs help. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone who wanted to plan such an event, it would be to start early. We started 6 weeks before the event and we were still crunched for time one week before. I would recommend planning 2 months in advance. I would also recommend that if you have the opportunity to work with a committee, delegate some responsibility. I was warned that our previous DP broke down in tears due to stress, however, my committee was extremely fantastic at accepting responsibilities and it was stellar to watch them grow into programming experts.

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This program can easily be adapted to any campus. Although we had quite a large budget, we spent most of it on T-Shirts and the Undies After Dark party. We only ended up spending about $500 on the actual events. We worked with our campus Student Involvement who was our safety net. They checked all of our paperwork, made sure events were appropriate, checked with space reservations, and gave us a template liability waiver just in case. If your campus has an organization like this, I highly recommend you use it.

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