If you thought you were done with dances after senior prom, think again!
I’m part of an organization called the Residence Hall Assembly, or RHA for short. This is a body of students that live in the on-campus residence halls here that help plan and promote events for the residents. Most of our work comes in sponsoring Hall Associations (committees in each residence hall) that plan events and request for funding. One of these events is something we call Mystery Masquerade, which happened just two days ago on Friday night.
Having a ball setting up and getting ready for residents to come enjoy the Mystery Masquerade, with a Snapchat filter made by yours truly! Photo courtesy of Joseph Toman.
Now, you may be wondering: what’s Mystery Masquerade? Well, Mystery Masquerade is one of two big events that the RHA plans every year. This dance event sort of serves as one of the last hurrahs for residents who want to celebrate the end of the school year soon approaching. Before this year, the dance has been called Sail Away, since the dance took place on a boat that went around the Bay. Since we headed off to the Exploratorium in San Francisco instead of a boat, it was only appropriate to change the title of the event!
In RHA, we have several committees that are in charge of various operations for the organization. I’m a part of the Social Affairs committee, which is the committee responsible for planning the Mystery Masquerade. Everyone in the committee’s played such a crucial role in helping this masquerade blossom into what it became for the residents! We planned for passive activities, open exhibits, raffle prizes, and all in all an amazing night for all the residents who came to enjoy the Exploratorium.
Residents were able to enjoy a night at the Exploratorium in San Francisco! Photo courtesy of Lucas Huang.
This year’s dance happened at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, a museum focused on helping its visitors explore science and art. Not only were there dance floors open to our residents, but there were lots of exhibits for the residents to interact with and check out! Not to mention the amazing donut bar that was set up in between the two dance floors. (Yes, there were two dance floors. The Exploratorium is huge!) When I wasn’t running around restocking snack tables and encouraging residents to sign up for raffles, there was still a lot to do, what with dancing and interacting with the exhibits.
As this year wraps up, I can’t help but be thankful that I had the opportunity to be a part of RHA. The organization does a lot to promote the sense of building community for its residents, whether it be through its own events or events from other organizations that we sponsor. I was also fortunate to serve in a Hall Association board that put on lots of awesome events for our residents. Getting involved in the residence halls this way is a great way to put yourself in a leadership position while helping the people you live with grow closer together, and I truly enjoyed being a part of it.
While I will be living off-campus for the following years, I absolutely recommend experiencing a year in the residence halls before doing so. Even if taking participating in a Hall Association board isn’t your style, you’ll still be able to meet a lot of amazing people in your halls. Who knows? Maybe you can enjoy your own prom part 2 with these new friends.
