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."
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