West Area: October RA of the Month

Congratulations to our West Area RA of the Month for October 2015, Dean Blanks from North Carrick! Here's what some of Dean's fellow RAs had to say about his great work: 

"I have had the pleasure of working with Dean Blanks for the last three months, but I feel like I’ve only really gotten to know him in the past few weeks. I first met Dean last spring. He was nice, but seemed very soft-spoken and even a bit shy. I expected Dean to be one of the more reserved members of the staff this year. Needless to say, I was wrong.

Anyone who has known Dean for more than a few days knows that he is anything but shy. Dean is one of the most genuine, open people I’ve ever met. He is never afraid to speak his mind, whether that means congratulating someone on a job well done or telling them if they are out of line. However, this doesn’t mean that Dean is cruel. Rather, he is always positive and upbeat. Dean did a wonderful job helping our staff bond during training through his sense of humor. His stories and jokes are a constant source of amusement among our staff. Even during all of the difficult changes we have been faced with in the past month, Dean always finds a way to make us laugh.

Although I have always appreciated Dean’s kindness and authenticity, I have truly seen the kind of person that he is over the past month. I have been faced with a lot of challenges recently. Aside from the recent staffing changes, which took its toll on all of us, many issues have come up in my personal life that were hard to deal with. From home sickness to a car accident and everything in between, Dean has been a constant source of support and guidance for me. I have spent many nights over the past few weeks on Dean’s couch, talking late into the morning about our lives and our problems. He is always willing to listen without judgment. He is encouraging and supportive. Whenever anyone comes to him with a problem, he drops what he is doing so that he can give them his full attention. I have heard this sentiment echoed from several other staff members. Dean is someone you can talk to about anything.

What amazes me most about Dean is his wisdom. Although he is only a sophomore, Dean is much wiser than most people in college and beyond. Despite this, he still has a lot of self-doubt. He worries about what he is going to do for a career and whether he is having an impact on residents. What he doesn’t realize is that he has done an amazing job over the past three months. I have personally seen his interactions with residents. The residents on his floor and others are just as comfortable with Dean as they are with each other. They come to him for advice and joke around with him. His programs have been very successful as well. Last weekend, six of his residents woke up before 8 a.m. to go hiking with him. We all know how difficult it is to get off campus but to do so that early on a Saturday- it shows he knows what his floor is interested in and his extensive effort into building relationships with his guys.

Dean Blanks has continuously impressed me with his floor community. There is not a time that I can recall when he is working desk and doesn’t interact with numerous residents walking by. His residents have a saying inspired by Dj Khaled- “Another one”. Dean used this and made his door decorations funny pictures of rappers tying in the floor’s branded saying. This integration of community into floor decorations shows great cohesiveness and awareness by Dean in the best interest of his floor. Dean is doing an excellent job. I am nominating him for RA of the Month because he is kind, wise, genuine, and, most importantly, modest. Although he would never consider himself deserving of it, I believe Dean is an exceptional RA, coworker, and friend who should be recognized for all he does for our staff."

Keep up the good work Dean! 

West Area RA of the Month: September 2015

MANY congratulations to our West Area RA of the Month for September 2015: 

DASHAWN DILWORTH from Reese Hall. Keep up the great work! 

Here's what Hall Director Terrance Jagrup had to say about the awesome work that Dashawn is doing over in Reese: Dashawn has been a great addition to the Reese staff this year. He started the year with a burst of energy and lots of great ideas for the building and staff!  He is very involved on campus and holds several roles on campus such as: Student Director with New Family Programs, an Orientation Leader, and he’s a member of the Central Program Council here at UTK.  Dashawn has a love for diversity and inclusion, and has took the steps to get us started right.  As part of his responsibilities on the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, he coordinated and led the “Privilege Walk” activity with the staff on September 22^nd.  It was quite an experience and a great bonding moment for us all.  Dashawn successfully completed his six week programs, and did a great job with them!  He held an open door night on week five, which allowed residents to get more acquainted with each other on the floor.  It was an indeed a huge success!  Dashawn also has a love for baking, where he baked muffins for his residents, just because!  Dashawn is overall a very jolly individual, who always has a smile on his face no matter what.  He is also always willing to lend a helping hand and step up to the plate when needed.  He’s very optimistic and sees the best in every situation.  I can say that he is on his way to be a great leader here at UT and in the community!

Congratulations to Amber Davis of Humes Hall for being named our west area RA of the month for August 2015! Amber is a 2nd year RA in Humes who was also selected as the winner for RA of the month last April! Keep up the awesome work! Here is what Hall Director Camille had to say about Amber: 

"I would like to nominate Amber Davis as the RA of the month for the west area. Amber has done an amazing job mentoring fellow staff members and has even been a shoulder to cry on for some of her peers. She is incredibly positive and maintains an optimistic attitude, no matter the circumstance. She hosted a program in August surrounding body image on her floor in which she asked residents to hold up signs about what they find beautiful about themselves. The photos are hanging in her hallway as a constant reminder to residents and her evaluation of the program discussed how luck she feels to be surrounding by such great residents. Overall, Amber has done everything in her power to be a helpful resource to Doree and myself as new head staff members to Humes. She has picked up the team when they are down and is always to first one to give you a smile and compliment. Despite the stress of training and opening, Amber has been nothing but great under pressure and I would love to see her recognized for all of her hard work in August. "

The 2015-2016 West Area Wolfpack! 

March RA of the Month: Amber Davis

Congratulations to Amber Davis from Humes Hall for being named our March 2015 RA of the Month! Here is what Assistant Hall Director Laura Reasor and Hall Director Kristen Krapfl had to say about Amber: 

"For the month of March, we would like to nominate Resident Assistant Amber Davis for RA of the month as she has stood out among her fellow staff members and has truly developed as a leader on our staff in her first year as a Resident Assistant.

Amber has set a tone for herself and her fellow staff members that continues to drive everyone to do their best, be their best, and give their best. Amber is someone who literally gives her all for Tennessee and everyone she meets on a daily basis. Amber was selected to be an Orientation Leader for Summer 2015 which has added an additional level of involvement on campus that included taking a class, participating in practice sessions for an Orientation Leader conference, and personally getting to know the 39 other OLs while also maintaining her good grades and her work as an RA.

For each month, we allow our RAs to do a passive program to fulfill the expectations of holding two community builders each month, but Amber instead decided to host two planned community builders that were not only for her residents, but for the general Humes resident population. One community builder was hosted in the lobby of Humes and consisted of designing and creating buttons with a fellow RA to hand to residents the week before Spring Break to encourage them to make healthy decisions over the break and to reinforce what consent looked like. She also helped design and create buttons advertising the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign that were sold and then all proceeds were donated to better the greater Knoxville community. The second community builder that Amber did was Paint a Brick which was another building-wide event. For this event, the Humes RAs worked together to host an event in which residents could pay $2 to paint a brick on the wall of the Humes West Multipurpose Room to leave their mark on their home away from home. All proceeds from this community builder went to Habitat for Humanity, which just shows that Amber is constantly working to give back to others whether it be in our building, at UT, or in the greater community.

Finally, Amber has stepped up as a leader among her fellow staff members in the month of March as demonstrated in a staff discussion that occurred after a staff meeting in March. Amber felt that there was some tension in the staff that needed to be addressed so that the staff could better work together as a unit. Amber approached Head Staff on her own and offered to lead the meeting, even asking that Head Staff allow the RAs to work out their concerns on their own. As an RA, it is extremely difficult to address issues with fellow staff members, and it is even harder to address a staff that is half returning RAs who have been in the position longer. Many of the staff felt like Amber did an excellent job leading this discussion and feel better about ending the year as a cohesive team. Amber has always had the potential to step up as a leader and it was during the month of March that we truly saw her shine.

It is for the many reasons listed above as well as our hopes for Amber in the future that we would like to nominate Amber Davis for the West Area RA of the Month for March."

February RA of the Month

Congratulations to Nathan Birsch of North Carrick for being named our February RA of the Month. Here is what HD Matt Parnell had to say about Nathan: 

       "My nomination is for RA Nathan Birsch, he has been a quiet leader on staff. While at times he can be loud and outgoing. When it comes to the key components of the position he executes them with extreme precision and care. He treats all persons that he comes in contact with care and a sense of genuine interest. One of the examples that indicates Nathan’s level of care was an incident that he had a student of concern that he considered to not have very many friends in the hall. Nathan continued to stay with this resident and play video games for three hours one evening, this is a student that we have been working with for a few months now. At that point it would be considered by most as Nathan going above and beyond his job duties. However he went a little further, in order to ensure that this resident felt supported Nathan continued to follow up and walk with the resident to and from class that they had near each other in order to help said resident feel continuously supported.

          Another example that stands out to me is Nathan’s ability to put on exceptional programs with great turn outs. He recently had an alcohol awareness program that held in the North Carrick lobby. He collaborated with South Carrick as well as UTPD to bring in an officer and the “drunk goggles” to have the residents play Mario Kart while wearing the goggles. He had a turnout of 40 residents in total along with Rachel from South Carrick. To me this shows that Nathan took the initiative to reach out to his floor buddy and exceptional RA Rachel as well as UTPD to have some educational context. The program had a relevant topic and good context as they had punch and snacks that went with it. The officer also discussed the consequences and statistics of driving under the influence.

      Nathan has also continued to support his colleagues in an amazing way. On a staff that is as close as this one, Nathan stands out as a member that continues to work to keep the bonds close. I have one more example to impart upon this nomination. Recently during the bad weather we had an RA, Anthony Sherriff get his car stuck in the ice. Upon hearing about this issue Nathan reached out to Anthony and offered to pull his stuck car out of the spot. The two worked to get the car out of the spot using Nathan’s vehicle and tow cables, this is just another instance that Nathan worked to help implement a caring and selfless working environment here at North Carrick. I am proud to have such an exceptional and giving staff member on my team."

Congratulations Nathan, you are awesome! 

January RA of the Month

Congratulations to John Abernathy on being named the West Area RA of the Month for January 2015! Here's what hall director Terrance from Reese had to say about John: 

John has been a great asset to the Reese staff.  For a first-year RA, John has proven himself to be reliable, a great team player, and very consistent with fulfilling administrative duties accurately and in a timely fashion.  He is very knowledgeable of  the department’s policies, and he has a close relationship with his residents.  John takes his job very seriously but also knows how to have fun doing it.  I nominate John for RA of the month for his ambition to do large-scale programming in and out of Reese.  He’s currently working on an Agape North t-shirt project, which is in hopes to launch mid-February.  This project will impact the UT community and he’s extremely excited about it.  He is always willing to report to an incident, whether he’s on duty or not, and he handles them well, with very little supervision.  John is friendly, kind, family-oriented, and absolutely LOVES his job as an RA.  I am extremely happy to have him on my staff, and I’m excited for the execution of the Agape North T-shirt project! 

Keep up the good work, John!