Hayley Bowring, the University of Idaho Residence Hall Association President during the 2022-2023 school year, has won the NACURH RHA President of the year award. The University of Idaho also won the RHA Building Block of the year award from the NACURH Annual conference hosted at Ball State University. It is the first time that UI has won any national awards.
The NACURH, or the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, is an association of residency halls across the nation that promotes leadership opportunities, campus involvement and student engagement. The NACURH acts very similarly to Greek House national organizations, but it pertains to residency halls. To win these awards, a bid must be created by the staff of a residency hall and sent to the NACURH, where they evaluate performances on a campus, regional and NACURH standards level.
Claire Westby, the RHA director of regional involvement, and Bowring put together their bid, which included Hayley’s performance as RHA president. Bowring first won the RHA President of the year regional award in February, which made her eligible to win the award at the national level. The same process was completed in the RHA Building Block of the year award that UI won.
Some of the skills Bowring had that attributed to her winning the award include building relationships, listening to people and collaborating with others. Bowring is also extremely grateful for the team she had alongside her, saying, “I am so lucky to have the board that I had. Everyone was so dedicated. They all supported me and had my back. It was wonderful.”
The 2022-2023 board consisted of Bowring, Westby, Lily Ellis, Isabelle Higgins and Kāma Ferguson.
Bowring further elaborated on how grateful she was for her team, sharing, “One of my favorite parts about the position was the people I worked with. I’ve gained so many relationships across campus, and it’s one of the best parts of the job. We’re all students, we’re all taking on extra work because we are passionate about this. It’s been a been amazing to connect with other students who are so passionate about things happening on campus, and it gives us the opportunity to build off each other and make campus a better place.”
Bowring shared that one of her favorite parts of being president was being in a position where she got to see students grow. “Seeing someone go from community assembly, to being an RA, or ASUI is wonderful,” she said. “Seeing people grow into leadership roles and seeing them really become themselves is very rewarding.”
Despite her exemplary effort as RHA President, Bowring will not be returning as the President in the fall semester, due to her graduating. Westby will be the next RHA president. Bowring is glad that she is giving up the presidency to someone else, saying, “I’ve done my part, and I’ve set a solid foundation for the organization. It is someone else’s turn, it’s time to pass it on.”
Along with Westby, many members of the 2022-2023 board will be returning next year. Ellis will return as Director of Finance while Higgins returns as the Director of Programming. New to the team are Ryder Fleming, the director of leadership and Toby Minick, director of communications.
Ben DeWitt can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @BenDeWitt321