Assistant Director of Continuing Student Experience, Ray Winterhalt, is a part of the Community Living staff leading the new RHA program. | Photo courtesy of Community Living 
Tyler Monestime, another Community Living staff member, works alongside Winterhalt on the new RHA program. | Photo courtesy of Community Living
Faith Miller
The Southern Editor
This fall, Community Living will be implementing the Resident Hall Association (RHA). This program will act separate from the Resident Advisor (RA) program and gives residents the opportunity to have a voice in decisions regarding residential communities.
The program is currently in the interest and planning stages, with hopes to fully launch during the fall semester. It will follow a model similar to Student Government Association (SGA), where members will be voted in by their peers. It will include an executive board of four positions, an executive director, communications director, marketing director and operations director, along with two student representatives from each residential community living area.
It is being spearheaded by Ray Winterhalt, Assistant Director of Continuing Student Experience, and Tyler Monestime, Community Director over the Lake Hollingsworth Apartments.
“The primary objective of the Residence Hall Association is for students to have an even greater voice,” Winterhalt said, “and hence the term hall advocate, to advocate for themselves, to create leadership opportunities and to create a place where they can engage.”
Part of the program consists of planning and hosting events once a month focused on community building, along with community council meetings where students can come and talk to the executive board along with their hall advocates.
“This is an acknowledgement of the students, right,” Winterhalt said, “that we are not what they say, and what they do does not fall on deaf ears. We’re not ignorant to what their needs are, and we want to become even more aware and more open and do so within reason.”
As previously stated, the program is currently in the interest stages and will be hosting meetings on March 20 and 21 from 7-8 p.m. The location is still being determined but students will be made aware soon. The information from these meetings will be used to shape the organization and possibly what students it will be composed of.
“So basically, we are trying to see the folks that come to these interesting meetings and that already show a real interest and keep coming back and asking questions,” Winterhalt said. “That’s going to help us determine ‘okay, who are the folks that are going to be on the exec board and who are the folks that are going to be the hall advocates initially.’ Traditionally as we go on, we want to make sure that the students are choosing who are a part of this, but we have to start somewhere.”
As Community Living continues to build RHA, they will also be planning a RHA bash to take place at the end of the semester to encourage people to have fun and get involved. With the way the positions are organized, incoming freshmen will be allowed to hold positions and possibly become a member on the executive board. Winterhalt hopes to have a full team established by the end of the fall 2024 semester.
Since it’s not associated with the RA program, RAs will not be allowed to be a member of RHA to help define the line between the two, for the time being. Along with this, events and programming will also follow a separate, less strict, model so that students can experience a vast array of events.
The inspiration behind the new program follows those similar to other higher education institutions. Community Living hears students’ needs and is aiming to do something to support them.
“We realize that this is a generation of people that really like to have a voice,” Winterhalt said. “They want to have a say in where they live. They want to have a say in the world around them. So this is part of that experience.”
Overall, both Winterhalt and Monestime are excited to see where the program goes, and watch as students give it life to grow. They know it will help teach leadership skills, provide service opportunities for both the local community and FSC, along with building a stronger sense of community.
“I think I’m really excited because every time you start something new, it’s always a good feeling,” Monestime said. “And so I think I’m really excited, the inception of it, to see it start up and to see the buy-in that we do get from students.”
