At NIU, Donny is a Freshman Computer Science major in addition to holding a leadership position as Vice President (VP) on the Grant Community Council Executive Board. In the Spring semester, RHA holds an annual Spring Leadership Retreat in March for the Community Council members to enhance their leadership development. But for the first time, the RHA Executive Board wanted Community Council input on how to structure the retreat, so RHA had a Retreat Committee in preparation for the event. When the RHA Executive Board was looking for students to take part in the committee, Donny was one of the first students to volunteer. In the committee meetings, Donny played an integral role by coming up with interactive activities that were played during the Retreat, and he took initiative to lead these activities. Donny leading these activities were valuable in the Retreat because he helped the residents build connections with each other that have continued throughout this month.

Aside from having a major role in the Retreat Committee, Donny got selected to attend the Illinois Residence Hall Association (IRHA) Leadership Conference as a delegate. This is Donny’s first Housing Conference that he has attended. In preparation of IRHA, Donny assisted in creating ideas and filming the delegation’s roll call video. Also, Donny supported his fellow delegates by making the clothes pins and motivated the delegates to continue their strong efforts. Since Donny took on an active role by engaging with the entire delegation, he received the honor as a Delegation Leader in the NIU delegation that attended IRHA.

At IRHA, Donny continued building his leadership efforts by co- presenting two programs, then attended many other programs where he learned about new topics and strategies involving leadership and personal growth, and further constructed his connections with the other NIU delegates as the Delegation Leader. During the IRHA awards banquet, he was a part of a delegation that won the Most Spirited Large School and he received a Top 10 Program Award. Donny’s leadership throughout the IRHA conference helped make lasting impressions for the delegates that made their IRHA experience very memorable.

After attending IRHA, Donny’s dedication to RHA and Grant Community Council became more apparent. In March, Donny helped his Community Council put on a successful Valentine’s Day program, called “Love Yourself.” In this program, the residents of Grant built photo frames and decorated their own cookies. Additionally, Donny volunteered for the RHA Game Night, where he facilitated the board games that were played during the event. Donny’s commitment to putting on programs exemplifies his enthusiasm to RHA and Community Council.

Overall, Donny’s efforts in March in the Retreat Committee, throughout IRHA, and his program involvement on the RHA and Community Council level have been fascinating to watch from an Executive Board member’s perspective. At the start of March, he was looking for ways to grow as a student-leader. By the end of the month, Donny has gained lots of experiences and lessons that he can utilize in the future as he seeks more leadership opportunities. Donny has been caring for others, and has pushed himself by stepping out of his comfort zone by becoming so involved in the NIU on-campus community. Donny has definitely earned his recognition for the Student of the Month in March.

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