Primary Position: DOD
Secondary Position(s): DOF
Education: 2nd Year Undergraduate Student, Aerospace Engineering
Please discuss any prior relevant experience and how it has prepared you for the position(s) you are applying to (2500 characters max).
Last year, I served as the Finance Coordinator for the West Village Hall Council (Armstrong, Hefner, Folk, and Caldwell). In this position, I collaborated with other hall council officers and resident assistants to facilitate events for residents. I was involved in the planning of the 2020-2021 hall council program of the year, a food truck event for West Campus residents. I submitted more than a dozen EAFs on behalf of Hall Council spending as well as reviewed and corrected, when necessary, over 50 EAFs. I presented a finance update for residents at weekly hall council meetings. With my supervision, our hall council spent all but $3 of our yearly budget. As finance coordinator for West Village, I was awarded finance coordinator of the year at the yearly Resident Hall Association banquet. Additionally, I am a member of the white and gold chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary. This year, I have had the pleasure to serve as a resident assistant for Nelson-Shell. As an RA, I have facilitated relations between 40+ residents, developed and conducted programs on diversity, personal development, and relationships. In addition, I have managed a semesterly budget to plan and throw events for my residents as well as presented at hall council meetings for funding for events. I am no stranger to the residence hall association or the world of housing and residence life. I have been a resident, a hall council officer, and a resident assistant and can provide a variety of experience to any role on the executive board.
Please discuss your interest in the position(s) you are applying for and what you plan to bring to the position(s) and organization at large (4000 characters max).
I have been a resident, a hall council officer, and a resident assistant, and residence life is near and dear to my heart. I think that residence hall communities have a huge influence on students’ relationships and wellbeing and have enjoyed making a positive impact on my fellow residents. As a hall council officer, I worked to develop a community amongst four residence halls. As an RA, I worked to develop a community amongst my floor. I want to become an executive board member so that I can develop the residence hall community as a whole. I think my experience with finances and programming are my strongest assets to RHA which is why I am running for DoD and DoF. I have managed a hall council budget and an RA’s budget successfully. I know the ins and outs of EAFs and the reimbursement process and am a qualified candidate for DoF. I believe it is the responsibility of the Director of Development to engage residents, HCO, and cabinet members in both fun and beneficial programs. I will bring my large-scale programming experience as an HCO and my small-scale programming experience as an RA to this position. I love throwing events for my residents and hope to bring programs and training to facilitate growth in RHA. I look forward to partnering with other campus organizations to further develop our executive body, HCOs, and residents. Additionally, I believe recognition to be important. HCOs do a lot for RHA with little recognition and no pay. As DoD, I would also like to implement a monthly recognition program for our Hall Council Officers (Hall Council of the Month, program of the month, etc). I believe it is the Director of Finance’s responsibility to manage and interpret the budget, distribute funds, be an advocate for residents and hall council officers, and enthusiastically plan and participate in RHA events. I will bring my finance experience, dedication, and unwavering enthusiasm to the director of finance position. As DoF, I hope to minimize reimbursement times to two weeks, better educate the residence hall community on financial matters, and increase our number of invoiceable vendors. I want to minimize as much as possible the financial barrier that exists between residents and building community because of RHA financial policies.
If you could improve any one thing about RHA—related to your position(s) of interest or not—what would it be and why (750 characters max)?
I believe that there is a financial barrier to residents, hall council officers, and resident assistants when it comes to programming. This issue, I think, applies to the director of finance and the director of development. As broke college students, it’s hard to come up with hundreds of dollars to spend on events and then wait weeks to be reimbursed! There are workarounds like asking hall directors and others who might have a surplus of money to wait for reimbursement. Regardless, the process of throwing events and making purchases for residence halls should be faster! Ideally, residents wouldn’t have to spend their own money on items at all, but I would like to get residents their money in two weeks or less!
Please discuss any obligations (work, extracurricular, and otherwise) that you anticipate having external to RHA during the duration of your intended term and how you plan to balance/prioritize your commitments (1500 characters max).
Above all else, I am at Georgia Tech to get an education. Whether it be career and research fairs, labs, lectures, office hours, or resume workshops, school is important to me, and school comes first. I plan to balance my executive board commitments appropriately with school as my top priority. My other commitments while at Tech include WoAA, NRHH, and SWE. These clubs I do for fun and participate in on a limited basis. I realize that executive board positions are a big commitment, and I am willing to commit the amount of time necessary to succeed in the director of finance or director of development roles.