NACURH 2010: San Diego, CA

Hi from UCSD! I am currently sitting in the corporate boardroom and thought I would update this thing. It is the middle of role call here, and you can only imagine the time it takes to role call over 220 schools all yelling things.

For those who don't know, NACURH is the National Association for College and University Residence Halls. It is essentially a governing system for the Residence Hall Associations (RHAs, which are leadership and governance for residence halls on campus) across the nation. Make sense? Probably not, but that's ok.

So this is essentially a conference for students who are part of a resident government system. This is the national conference, which means over 220 schools and over 2,000 stduents and advisors. That's a whole lot of people!

I am here as one of the advisors for our Gonzaga delegation. We have 8 students here with us- 7 are the RHA executives here, and 1 is an NRHH rep (the group I advise during the year). The students do some work, like going to sessions on programming, networking with other schools,
and passing legislation. They also have a bunch of fun stuff for the students every day, like concerts, carnivals, movies, games, and live band karaoke (dad, you would have loved it).

What is boils down to is that this is a conference full of nerds! There are so many spirited people all around- lots of cheering, games, costumes, trading pins and gear, etc. Even as a extrovert I am a little overwhelmed by all of the spirit!

My role as an advisor varies here. I kind of keep students in line (making sure they are going to sessions and are being good), lead some reflections, and provide advice when voting on corporate legislation. Even though it's a student conference, there are some things for advisors to do. They have some advisor specific programs that I have gone and learned from. And there was an advisor social the first night which led to lots of networking and such.

Overall it has been a fun experience. UCSD is a cool campus, even if it is large and a little confusing to get around. After being here for a few days I can see why people would never want to leave- perfect weather all year round.

This is the last full day of the conference. Tomorrow I fly back to Dayton and continue the road trip. I am a ready to get back to nana and continue to journey. After so many days of traveling and seeing new things, it is a little weird then being "stuck" in one place for a couple of days!

Ok, probably should be setting a good example for my students and paying attention. Take it easy!
Joey