Each year, the Department of Housing & Residential Programs (HARP) celebrates our dedicated student staff with awards for the hard work they put into making sure our residence halls are safe and engaging living-learning communities.  We are very proud to announce the winners of these various accolades our department awards to outstanding service to the department, the University, and our students:

Overall Awards:

Best Returning RA Award

The recipient for the Outstanding Returning RA Award is awarded to the RA with at least one year of experience.  The Recipient must show the utmost leadership not only among their residents, but among their staff as well.  

Recipient: Rachel Crispin, East Village

Rachel takes it upon herself to do what needs to be done to create and build community, provide intentional support to assist her residents, and be consistently good at both. She met the challenge of having a floor to herself and did an exceptional job there. She planned and coordinated large scale programs such as East Village’s Halloween Party, is willing to help with open desk shifts and other department needs. Through many different circumstances in her life which has proved challenging, Rachel has displayed amazing resiliency, which is what I’ve been impressed by the most. It brings me a great deal of excitement and pride to nominate Rachel Crispin for Best Returner.

Best New RA Award

The recipient for the outstanding new RA of the year award is awarded to the newest member of the RA staff that has shown exemplary leadership and the ability to show constant flexibility, positivity and willingness to help.  This individual must also show support for their residents academically and personally and makes an effort to interact with residents on a personal level and create an exceptional community within their floor. 

Recipient: Larry Jeter, West Village

Larry has taken a lot of initiative this year. He invests a lot of time into getting to know his residents and sees every opportunity as a way to grow. Larry is a great team player and has very high emotional intelligence.

DA of the Year Award

To the Desk Attendant who best exemplify the HARP mission, teamwork and awesome customer service skills.

Recipients: Leah Bahl (pictured on left), South Village and Megan Nolan (pictured on right), West Village

Leah is a hard worker and a great team player.  Her positive attitude has allowed her to excel at her job.  She is helpful and welcoming with residents and is always willing to work when needed. In the short time she’s been with us, she has built friendly relationships with the other DAs as well as the RAs of South Village.

Megan is always at the desk on time. She knows the names of the residents and she makes people feel welcome in West. She knows how to do her job well and she has great customer service skills. She has been a great addition to the DA staff in West.

Programming Awards:

Through the Residential Curriculum, HARP created goals for RAs to meet with their residents through four pillars: Participation, Understanding, Well-Being, Transformation.

Participation Programming Award

To the RA that has best exemplified getting their residents involved in club/org involvement, campus & RA events, study groups.

Recipient: Jade Ryan, Reighard Hall

As someone who is actively involved around campus, Jade did a great job showing others the importance of being a part of the MU community.  Whether in the hall or on campus, Jade encouraged her residents to not just come to programs, but to become a leader and take an active role in shaping the programs being offered here at Millersville.

Understanding Programming Award

To the RA that best exemplifies helping residents identify peers for study groups, utilize academic resources, confidence in analysis skills.

Recipient: Jaelinn Leftridge, West Village

Jaelinn’s ability to develop relationships with others is what allowed her to create and educational community. She brought others together to study in the front lobby and used the study lounges to do homework with residents and peers.

Well-Being Programming Award

To the RA that best exemplifies helping residents identify campus resources for holistic wellness, healthy dining options, good sleeping habits, revisit roommate agreements.

Recipients:Amanda DiPaula (pictured on top) and Jack Kopp (pictured on bottom), South Village

Floor partners Jack and Amanda have worked tirelessly during the school year to ensure the holistic health and wellness of their residents.  They created an intramural team and participated in several intramural sports with their residents.  Jack and Amanda teamed up to work with their residents regarding conflict resolution skills to create better relationships with roommates.

Transformation Programming Award

To the RA that best exemplifies helping residents identify social identities, share learning moments with RA, accomplish goals.

Recipient: Phil Romansky, West Village

At the beginning of the school year, Phil had all of his residents write down semester goals. During his 1-1’s, he checked in with his residents on where they stood in accomplishing their goals. At the beginning of the spring semester, Phil helped his residents revisit their goals. Phil wants his residents to accomplish their dreams.

Congratulations to all of our award winners!! Thank you for all you do and keep up the amazing work!