Category: Uncategorized

FY25 Director of Administration Election

Hi, everybody! The RHA Executive Board is excited to announce that we are continuing the Election Process of Director of Administration for the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year. This post will detail the timeline of the election for everyone, detail the application process, provide the necessary documentation, and then finally link to the application. If you have not participated in an RHA election before, please make sure to read all of the available material to get proper context and information.

Election Timeline:

11/29: Application for the Director of Administration is live.

3/20 @11:59pm: Application for the Director of Administration closes

3/25 @11:59am: Candidate Information Page is published.

3/27 @8am: Candidates are required to submit materials for Election Night.

4/10 @7pm: Election

Application Process:

All applicants must have the following actions done by their respective dates:

    • Submit an application that is fully, correctly, and intentionally filled out.
    • Submit a slide deck for an 8 minute presentation.
    • Attend Legislative Council on April 10 7pm – 9pm.
    • Have not campaigned in any capacity.
    • Prepare for questions about RHA contributions, experience, knowledge, and intent.

Election Documentation:

Position Descriptions (Information within the Position Descriptions is subject to change)

Constitution

Policy Book

Exec Position Presentation: Will be uploaded at a later date.

Application Link:

Make sure to fill out every required question with a true, intentional, and helpful answer.

Make sure to save your answers separately, as Qualtrics has been known to delete answers upon refreshing.

🍂 RHA’s 2nd Annual Fall Festival

Join us once again for some Fall Fun at RHA’s 2nd Annual Fall Festival 🍂🎃 on Tuesday, October 31st, from 6-10PM. We’re here to help you celebrate Fall with various festivities and snacks!

Play some carnival games to win fun prizes or dare to venture into our haunted corn maze. Enjoy some good old-fashioned cathartic destruction with Pumpkin Paint & Pummel, where you can paint and then destroy helpless pumpkins! After that you can pet the cute animals in the petting zoo, and then check out some of our Community Council Officer-led booths with fun activities! During set-up, from around 11:00am to 2:30pm, there will also be 40+ adorable dogs wearing their best Halloween costumes. 

Be sure to register and sign the waiver on Engage. This is required for entry and participation in ANY activities! You will receive a wristband upon completing check-in at the event.

Before reading on, check out our video from Fall Festival last year!

Pumpkin Paint & Pummel 🎃🔨 

  • Looking to relieve some mid-semester stress? Take out your anger on some pumpkins! Come paint and then smash some fresh pumpkins with a large, heavy sledgehammer. Of course, if wanted, you can also just paint your pumpkin and take it home! 

Carnival Games & Prizes 🎪🏆

  • Hi-Striker: Test your strength with this classic carnival game! Put some power into that mallet and see if you can ring the bell!
  • Clown Tooth: Afraid of clowns? Face your fears and knock out some clown teeth for prizes! 
  • Stand a Bottle: Use a ring on string and get the bottle to stand! 
  • Hit the Bucket: Try and throw your ball into the bucket—if it stays in, you win! 
  • Ring Toss: This classic carnival game needs no explanation—toss those rings onto those pegs! 

Haunted Corn Maze 🌽👻 

  • BOO! Do you have the guts to venture into our Haunted Corn Maze? As the sun sets, the fog rolls in. Monsters will begin to emerge from the maze! Can you make it out alive, or will you succumb to fear? 

Petting Zoo 🐐🐄

  • Come see some cute animals at our petting zoo! You will be able to see a variety of adorable animals including a miniature cow, a donkey, a horse, a goat, a sheep, and a rabbit!

Community Council Booths 🏠🏠

  • Your Community Council Officers will be having a booth with fun activities at Fall Festival! Come out to support them and have some fun. 

There will also be a variety of Fall-themed snacks and hot chocolate! Food will be first-come, first-serve.

Check-In 

  • To ensure waivers are completed, you will receive a wristband at the check-in area upon providing proof of waiver completion through Engage. Attendees will not be allowed to participate in ANY aspect of the event without a wristband. 

Safety 

  • Clothing/Apparel: To smash pumpkins, you are required to wear closed-toe shoes. We will provide a hard hat, gloves, and safety goggles that you must wear to smash pumpkins! 
  • Waiver: This must be filled out to participate in ANY activities at Fall Festival. Participants under 18 are required to have a parent’s signature to complete the waiver.
Fall Festival Waiver

Volunteers

  • Want to be part of what makes Fall Festival fun? Sign up to volunteer for a portion of the event! Volunteers get to have a full hour of Fall Festival fun before the event officially starts, and get entered into a raffle that is pulled at the end of the semester! Sign up here!
Volunteer Link

⚡ EcoReps Energy Saving Competition

Does your residence hall have what it takes to save the most energy? As part of Campus Sustainability Month, we’re partnering with EcoReps to host a week-long energy reduction competition between on-campus residence halls. As a resident, you play a key role to reducing waste within your residence hall—this is also a great opportunity to learn environmentally sustainable behaviors!

The EcoReps Energy Saving Competition starts Monday, October 16th and lasts until Sunday, October 22nd. The winning residence hall will have a special party with food!  We’ll be updating the standings daily on @rhagt and at the bottom of this page! 

Tips & Tricks for Reducing Energy Use 

  • Open blinds for natural light instead of turning on the lights. 
  • Turn off lights when not in use. 
  • Keep AC/HVAC close to outside temperature. 
  • Conserve water—heating water takes a lot of energy! 
  • Unplug all appliances when not in use.
  • Report any drips or leaks by submitting a maintenance request. 
  • Only wash your laundry when you have a full load, wash laundry on cold. 
  • Air-dry instead of using a dryer.

Why is Energy Conservation Important? 

  • Georgia’s energy profile is only 12% renewable. 
  • Non-renewable energy emissions contribute to climate change and harm human health. 
  • Air pollution is responsible for deaths related to lung cancer, stroke, and ischemic heart disease. 
  • BIPOC are more likely to live/work near dirty energy sources, therefore exposed to 1.2-1.5x more to particulate matter than white non-Hispanic people. 

As a resident, you’re an important part in reducing the negative environmental effects of on-campus residence halls! While you may not be paying for utilities now, the ability to reduce waste by practicing environmentally sustainable behaviors is an essential skill that will help you transition to living on your own.

Who’s Winning? 

This challenge has ended. Congratulations to the Graduate Living Center!

 

Executive Order 24-03: Constitution & Policy Book Changes for Essential Function

By the powers vested in me by RHA’s Governing Documents, I hereby decree the following changes to the RHA Constitution & RHA Policy Book:

  • Change all references to Hall Councils by name to Community Councils. Thus, all councils hold equivalent description within RHA governing documentation.
  • Update dates to an accurate description of the last proposed changes and fiscal year.
  • Adjust goal/strategy descriptions to be in line with HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Remove the need for the Judicial Branch, but retain the possibility of its reinstation.
  • Change the description of Community Councils to match their nature and intended purpose in line with HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Adjust the description of Legislative Council (LC) to better represent its purpose in line with HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Clarify choppy, unclear, or overextended language to increase document readability.
  • Adjust procedural timings for last-in-academic-year meetings to allow for smooth completion and transition of new and old business within said meetings.
  • Adjust Positional Descriptions/Responsibilities to be in line with HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Make optional the presence of RHA within elections of councils.
  • Fix embedded links to be in line with their descriptions.
  • Remove redundant information and add necessary information.
  • Adjust Bill Types to fit within the reach of the organization.
  • Adjust processes to be in line with HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Remove RSO involvement within LC.
  • Change budget descriptions to be in line with Executive Board & HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Update outdated information.
  • Remove restrictions based on past Executive Board control and realign to HRL descriptions and suggestions.
  • Increase communication between Executive Board & Community Councils when interaction is beneficial.

All changes to the RHA constitution will hereby apply to all of RHA’s constituents and participators. All changes to the RHA policy book, in line with HRL suggestions, will hereby apply to all of RHA’s constituents and participators, excluding any policy removed via a unanimous vote of all officers of a Community Council and their Hall Director advisor. In the event of policy exclusion, the exclusion applies solely to the voting Community Council and its own procedure and function.

All changes to the RHA constitution and RHA policy book, as per the constitution, will require a three-quarters vote of the LC for the approval of stated changes to exist past the first meeting.

Respectfully signed,

Amanda M Bock, 2023-2024 Director of Development & Interim Executive President

Executive Order 24-02: Executive Cabinet Appointment

By the powers vested in me by RHA’s Governing Documents, I hereby appoint the following individuals to serve in the following positions in RHA’s Executive Cabinet for the FY24 year:

  • Auditor: Ethan Morlu
  • Visual Media Manager: Micah Washington
  • Resource Room Manager: Ethan Radulski

Respectfully signed,

Parker Green, 2023-2024 Executive President & Director of Programming

Executive Order 24-01: Nullification of Previous Executive Orders

By the powers vested in me by RHA’s Governing Documents, I hereby nullify any and all active Executive Orders that still stand from previous administrations. That is, any Executive Orders written prior to Executive Order 24-01 are nullified, and only Executive Orders from the FY24 RHA year still stand.

Respectfully signed,

Amanda M Bock, 2023-2024 Director of Development & Interim Executive President

📢All new RHA! (& How You Can Get Involved)

‼ We’re hiring! Paid leadership positions! 💵

RHA is currently filling out it’s Executive Cabinet. It’s an awesome opportunity to get involved in the second largest student organization on this campus, make a huge contribution to it’s operation, and get paid to do so!

The application opens Friday, September 16th and closes a week later on September 23rd at 11:59pm. Look to the bottom of this article for more information and a link to the application.

This year, the fundamental structure of RHA looks quite a bit different than it has in the past. These differences include: a scaled-down Executive Cabinet, a suspended Judicial Branch, a repurposed Legislative Council, and Hall Councils that are totally new.

Why the Restructure?

At the direction of the Department of Housing and Residence Life (HRL) (which funds, provides professional staff for, and generally supports RHA), RHA is undergoing a process of strategic planning and evaluation to determine the course of RHA over the next 5-10 years. During this process, RHA will accomplish the following:

  • Evaluate the role of RHA on Georgia Tech’s Campus
  • Identify how RHA can best serve residents
  • Evaluate the current structure of the organization and Hall/Area Councils
  • Evaluate how RHA supports the mission of the Department of Housing and Residence Life (HRL)
  • Evaluate the roles/membership of RHA

In order to make room for the work required to meet such goals, the responsibilities of the RHA Executive Board have been rebalanced. Operations such as Legislative Council, Area/Hall Council involvements, and some Executive Cabinet positions are taking a back-seat this year.

❓ What does this mean for Legislative Council?

RHA’s Legislative Council (LC) has been scaled back this year in order to assess the structure and purpose of it’s operation. LC will meet on a monthly basis (as opposed to the typical weekly meetings) to discuss governance, provide leadership/bonding experience to it’s representatives, provide a forum for resident concerns to be voiced, and for elections of the RHA Executive Board in the spring. The funding typically allocated to LC has instead been allocated to programs facilitated through Resident Assistants, Hall Directors, and Area Councils. At this time, RHA does not offer any funding to student organizations providing programs for residents.

RHA still wants to do everything it can to support the many student organizations that provide community, support networks, and social engagement to our residents. Right now, RHA’s Resource Room houses over 100 distinct items designed to be used to host events big and small. This is open to the entire Georgia Tech community completely for free. Click the “Resource Room” button on the navigation bar to access our Resource Room reservations page (or click here).

Hall Councils ➡ Area Councils

In the past, RHA has facilitated over 17 (but typically closer to 20) Hall Councils. While this was often a greatly successful operation, it was not without fault. Facilitating this many Hall Councils meant that Hall Directors (of which typically have anywhere from 12-20 on campus) who served as Advisors would often be stretched thin between their regular duties and the efforts required to facilitate Hall Councils and mentor Hall Council Officers. Additionally, the burden placed on the 6-person RHA Executive Board to facilitate/maintain financial and operational infrastructure, train Hall Council Officers, and more meant that less time and energy could be given to each Hall Council.

This year, RHA is very excited by the move to a consolidated model! We are currently operating at 6 Area Councils (we don’t love the name, but it fits) which you can read more about by clicking the Area Councils tab above. There are a few advantages of this system:

  • Even with the industry-wide shortage of Hall Directors, this consolidated model allows us to sustainably facilitate fund allocation and community building
  • Under this model, not all Hall Directors are required to assist with Area Councils while the ones who do are assigned Area Council as their collateral assignment meaning the expectation is that they are investing more time/energy into Area Councils than previous models where they had other collateral assignments in addition to advising Hall Councils
  • RHA Executive Board members are able to invest more time into strategic planning while also providing all the same infrastructure and advising to Area Councils

🏡How you can get involved:

Looking to get involved in the second largest student organization at Georgia Tech? Well, its not too late to join in!

Area Council Vacancies

Please take a look at our Area Councils page and find your Area Council. If you live on East Campus, there is likely a position open that you can apply for! Just open up your Area Council’s dropdown and look for positions marked “‼Vacant”. We look forward to seeing you make a difference in your community.

Executive Cabinet

RHA is currently hiring Executive Cabinet members, and we’d love to have you join our team. We have three openings:

  • Visual Media Manager
  • Resource Room Manager
  • Auditor

All positions are compensated between $750 and $1100 per semester. You can learn more about each position, RHA, and our Executive Cabinet in the Job Descriptions PDF. Note that these positions are not open to incoming first-year students.

Applications for the Executive Cabinet will be live through Friday, September 23rd, and an interview period will follow applications. A full timeline, along with more information, can be found in the Executive Cabinet application, here.

Week of Welcome from RHA!

Join us for an action-packed Week of Welcome featuring several events hosted by us! Below are all the dates, times, and locations for the week. We will also be tabling (listed below) where you can pick up some RHA merch and learn more about us. 

Events

🚩 Trek Through Tech | Friday 8/12, 12:00pm – Saturday 8/20, 11:59pm | GooseChase App 

Description: Travel around campus to interact with the various resources and events throughout Week of Welcome. Using the GooseChase app, just check-in, solve some puzzles, and you can win some amazing awards! 

Check out our other post here for more info about playing and prizes! 🚩Trek Through Tech Scavenger Hunt

🎨 Chalk the Walks | Monday 8/15, 3:00pm – 5:30pm | Peter’s Parking Deck and Curran Parking Deck 

Description: It may only be the first week of classes at Tech, but it’s not too early to leave your mark on campus—literally! Come out to Peter’s Parking Deck or Curran Parking Deck to help make campus beautiful while jamming out to some music before the semester picks up. Each attendee will be provided chalk, and we’ll also have snow cones for attendees on East Campus and ice cream bars on West Campus. 

🏎 The Amazing Race | Tuesday 8/16, 1:00pm – 4:00pm | Tech Green 

Description: Get a partner and come crush a multi-part obstacle course. With a three-legged race, blanket pull, inflatable obstacle course, and more, see if you can beat the most amazing racers. The top three fastest racers will receive a prize of their choice up to $50. 

🦘 Bounce Back to School Thursday 8/18, 7:00pm – 9:00pm | Exhibition Hall 

  • Description: Come hop, jump, and fly in a bouncy house! Have one last childish day before school starts and summer ends. 

😎 Transfer Student Night Friday 8/19, 3:30pm – 5:30pm | Peter’s Parking Deck 

  • Description: Come out to Peters Parking Deck to catch up with your other second year and new transfer friends! We’ll have music, lawn games, and good vibes, along with plenty of food and drinks for you to enjoy as you play games like cornhole, ladder toss, giant connect 4, giant Jenga, and more. Be sure to come out early—we’ll have ice cream bars and various treats, but only while supplies last. 

Tabling

Members of our Executive Board will be tabling around campus throughout the week. Come say hello, learn more about RHA, our upcoming events and activities throughout the week! We’ll have free RHA merchandise at each tabling session: 

  • RHA Stickers—The ones you know and love; featuring residential locations around campus, the Ramblin Rec, and more! 
  • Color Changing Cups—when these cups get cold, they turn from frosted clear color to a vibrant red, orange, blue, or green! 
  • Keypers—these silicone phone wallets have room for you to store your Buzzcard AND your room key! 

Come grab merch at the following dates and times: 

  • Friday, 8/12, 7:30-10:00pm — East Campus- GT Connector 
  • Saturday, 8/13, 7:30-10:00pm — West Campus- Nelson-Shell Courtyard 
  • Wednesday, 8/17, 2:30-4:30 pm — Tech Green (Southern end by the trees) 

🚩Trek Through Tech Scavenger Hunt

Trek Through Tech is a week-long scavenger hunt that explores Tech and the different resources that we have to offer! Join in on other fun events happening during Week of Welcome as you investigate clues and compete against other residents to earn prizes!                

The Scavenger Hunt is hosted on the GooseChase app. The hunt begins on August 12th at noon and runs through August 20th at 11:59 pm. Be sure to join quickly because only the first 1,000 players can participate! There are 1750 points total to earn in the hunt.

🧭Set-Up, Gameplay, & Types of Challenges

To join the Scavenger Hunt, download GooseChase on your iOS or Android device. New to GooseChase? Review how to get started and use the app here. The game code is PBJRG8, and the name of the hunt is “Trek Through Tech.” Since our Scavenger Hunt is designed for individual play, prizes will be distributed to individuals. However, you can still play with others if you’d like!

Each clue or “mission” requires you to submit evidence of completion in one of three forms: picture/video, text, or GPS location. Each mission describes an activity for you to complete or a location to go find on campus, and varying amounts of points (as indicated on each mission) are automatically awarded when evidence is submitted. GPS location and text-based evidence are automatically screened for accuracy. Picture/video evidence is automatically awarded points upon submission but will be reviewed for accuracy by a game moderator within 12 hours. Inaccurate submissions will be rejected—and the points earned from the task deducted. Spam photo/video submissions, inappropriate submissions, and any sort of “point farming” (submitting pictures that are obviously illegitimate submissions to earn points quickly) will result in subsequently stricter point deductions.

You might not know what location each mission is describing right away, and that’s okay! Feel free to use the Internet to aid in your search—we pulled our clues from public information that is easily searchable on various GT websites.

NOTE: Our GooseChase Scavenger Hunt is limited to 1000 players total, so only the first 1000 people who join the game will be able to play.

🎁Prizes:

Reward 1: Free T-Shirt

Collect 1150 points to receive a 100% cotton short sleeve t-shirt! We will be tabling Wednesday, August 17th (time and location is shown on the app) for you to pick up your shirt! Shirts are available on a first-come, first-served basis; we have 250 shirts total—30 S, 60 M, 70 L, 50 XL, 30 XXL, and 10 3XL.

Reward 2: 4 Raffle Tickets

Participants that complete even more of the scavenger hunt and collect 1500 points will receive 4 digital raffle tickets to allocate across our 15 various prizes! Here is the link to the raffle.

  • LEGO Flower Bouquet
  • LEGO Architecture Skyline Collection – London
  • HydroFlask- Light Blue
  • Squishmallow- Carl the Burger 16 inches
  • Portable Table Tennis Set
  • Sunset Lamp
  • Brita Filter Bottle
  • Oil Diffuser
  • JBL Portable Speaker
  • Blanket Sweatshirt- Large
  • Mini Portable Projector
  • Dorm Bedside Shelf
  • Boba Plushie- 12 inches
  • Mini Fjallraven Backpack- Frost Green
  • CONBOLA Desk Fan

Questions or Concerns?

Any questions or concerns regarding the scavenger hunt can be directed to RHA’s Director of Finance, Kylie Wentworth, at rha-dof@housing.gatech.edu. Please email us for accommodation requests or if we can do anything to make you feel more comfortable throughout the event.

Secret Message

Looking to complete the first mission in the Scavenger Hunt? The secret message is “grow, lead, unite” (no quotes).

🐶 Dogapalooza, Float Through Finals, and End-of-Year Survey!

To wrap up the end of the semester, we’re bringing dogs onto campus for Dogapalooza, helping residents Float Through Finals, and giving away prizes to residents who complete our end-of-year survey.

DOGAPALOOZA 🐶

This Wednesday, April 27, join us at the GT Connector lawn (between Glenn and Towers residence halls) from 1:00 to 3:00pm for Dogapalooza! We’ll have all things dogs, including free hot dogs, therapy dogs, dog-toy making, animal shelter philanthropy, dog stickers, and dog t-shirts—plus music and good vibes!

Dogapalooza’s therapy dogs are brought to us by Happy Tails Pet Therapy.

Get a T-Shirt! 👕

We have 275 t-shirts (in sizes S – XXL) to give out, so be sure to participate to get one! You can earn a t-shirt in one of two ways:

  1. Bring an old t-shirt with you to the event. It can be from a past event at Georgia Tech, a really big or really small shirt you no longer fit into, or just a shirt you’re ready to say goodbye to! You’ll help turn your old shirt into a no-sew dog toy, and we’ll give you a brand new Dogapalooza shirt for your efforts!
  2. Donate $5 to a local animal shelter via Venmo—details at the event on the day-of.

Enjoy a Hot Dog 🌭

Choose one of four different hot dogs to dig into and enjoy!

  • Asian Slaw Dog: Asian slaw, ginger sesame aioli, chopped green onion
  • Caribbean Jerk Dog: Caribbean jerk sauce, diced pineapple, cilantro lime aioli, and diced cilantro
  • Average Joe Dog: regular hot dog, with ketchup, mustard, mayo, and relish packets available
  • Vegan Dog: a chipotle tofu scramble dog, with corn salsa and a vegan aioli sauce

FLOAT THROUGH FINALS 🍦

On Tuesday, April 26 from 6-8pm, join us at the Nelson-Shell/Zbar lawn to float your way through finals! Get a hand-scooped ice cream float—with your choice of coke, Dr. Pepper, root beer, sprite, or orange fanta—and stay for lawn games, music, and an all around de-stress fest before finals start up. Be sure to commemorate your last day of classes of the year with a Polaroid picture, on us!

Be sure to monitor our Instagram (@rhagt) for day-of updates—if it rains or if there is other inclement weather, we’ll post a cancellation notice. Our rain date is Friday, April 29 from 6-8pm.

END OF YEAR SURVEY 📄

Annually, we survey residents on a variety of issues related to living on campus and ongoing RHA projects. This year, we are interested in surveying residents on personal mobility devices (e-scooters, e-skateboards, etc), laundry machine maintenance, and the menstrual product program. As an incentive for completing this survey, each person who completes the survey will earn four virtual raffle tickets, which they can allocate across our various prizes:

  • Squishmallow — 12″ Orange Axolotl
  • Squishmallow — 12″ Red Triceratops
  • Squishmallow — 8″ Sunny Bee
  • Squishmallow — 14″ Nemo
  • Plush — 19.6″ Stuffed Animal Shiba Inu
  • LEGO Architecture Skyline Collection: San Francisco
  • LEGO Marvel Infinity Gauntlet
  • AmazonBasics Cotton Weighted Blanket – 15lbs, 48x72in
  • ENO, Eagles Nest Lightweight Camping Hammock
  • Mini Project, AuKing 2022 1080p, Yellow
  • Fjallraven Classic Everyday Backpack – Black
  • HydroFlask – Wide Mouth, 20oz, Laguna Color

Take Our Survey!

Go to Qualtrics