In the beginning of this school year, my RA, Emily, kept mentioning that she thought I should run for a position on Community Council. If I’m being honest, I really didn’t understand what it was at all. Regardless, I ran for Calkins Vice President and won. I was definitely excited to join something that was a big part of my living community, but I was also a little bit nervous because it was something brand new. After meeting with those who were also part of the E-board I felt so much better! Most everyone, with the exception of one person, were all freshman so we were all experiencing the same emotions and thought process. Every single person was so welcoming and made me feel great about my decision to join Community Council.
As the year progressed, I definitely became more comfortable in my role and position. One unique thing about RoC Community Council is that since we are two residence halls combined (Robinson and Calkins), we were able to have a Vice President for each residence hall. It was so reassuring to be able to have the same position as someone else so we could collaborate and work together on some of our bigger duties. Community Council E-board met every Sunday night, with our public meetings taking place every Monday night. All of our public meetings had to take place virtually over Zoom, which was a little bit disappointing because some of the people who attended meetings every week I was never able to meet in person. However, E-board meetings were in person which was very nice because it allowed us to form a deeper connection and helped us to plan and carry out our events. We tried to make every meeting fun by having specific themes and deciding on theme winners. It was a great way to get everyone involved.
One thing I was able to do through Community Council was attend a leadership conference called DREAM. This was a great conference where we were able to listen to many speakers who presented on a variety of topics. They made it fun while still adding an educational element to it. In the end, RoC Community Council won in the category of “Most Spirited”.
During my time on Council this year, I helped to plan many events. Some of the ones I was most involved with were our two letter writing events. The first one took place toward the beginning of first semester. The letters written at this event were delivered to other members of our RoC community. The goal of this event was to allow people to connect with others in our own community. The second event was run during the second semester and had the same general idea. However, this one was a little different because the letters written were delivered to those affected by COVID-19 at a local nursing home and hospital. The letters were so appreciated and it was a great feeling to know that we made an impact in the lives of people we don’t even know! As a whole council, we planned an end of the year event which we called “RoC’s Backyard Bash”. This was an event that was held outside of Calkins where the basketball and volleyball courts are located. He had both of those courts running, as well as tie dye and ice cream treats. The event was meant to be a fun and stress free way to round out the semester while getting to hang out with others.
To round out the year, each member wrote an “Of the Year” or “OTY” on a person in our community who was outstanding for different categories. This was run through RHA, or Residence Housing Association, and was a campus-wide event. I had the privilege of writing one in the category of “President of the Year” on our amazing president, KuJuana Quinn. I was also honored to be nominated for one in the category of “E-board Member of the Year”. After all nominations were in, we were invited to a banquet where the winners were announced. I ended up winning “E-board Member of the Year”. Though this was definitely a shock to me, I was very humbled and thankful. It also made me extra proud to serve the RoC community as the Calkins Vice President.
Going forward I will definitely be able to take everything I learned as a part of Community Council and apply it to many different situations in life. I learned how to work well with others to plan successful events (even in a pandemic!), how to take a bigger and more active role in my community, and it helped me develop my leadership skills. Looking back, Community Council was one of my favorite and most positive experiences I had on campus this year. I’m glad I decided to take a leap of faith and run for Calkins Vice President because if I hadn’t, my year would have been much less fun. I plan to continue my leadership in the RoC community next year as Community Council President since I will be returning to this community. I am so excited for this opportunity and can’t wait to get started!
Samantha McDonald 