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		Catch Your Residents Doing Something Good Program by Daniel Shonk, Resident Assistant, Ball State University with introduction by Terri Scanlon, Managing Director, Reslife.Net Introduction The following program is provided as one of 152 program ideas/plans provided in The RA Coach service. It is a great idea for rewarding the positive behaviors that so many students are involved in as a member of your residence hall community. Everything you need to know and think about if you choose to run this program on your campus is right below. We hope you’ll find this program option useful and a great way for your Resident Assistants to “catch their residents doing something good”. A great program idea for the New Year! If you’re interested in previewing the programming and other service offerings offered as part of the RA Coach service (on-line in-service training, monthly planning guides and more), click on the following link and sign up for a free trial: http://www.reslife.net/html/signupl.html Program Title: Hall Bucks Workload Requirements to Accomplish This Program: Medium Target Number of Participants: All Hall Residents Approximate Length of Program: Ongoing throughout the semester Overall Program Description: This program requires the hall staff to work together rewarding the residents of the hall. Coupons in the form of ‘hall bucks’ are handed out to the residents when they are observed doing good things, this can be studying, earning good grades, or anything else your staff decides to target. The program is an ongoing one that ends a week or two before finals. Major Goals for this Program: To promote the importance of effective study skills and quality of academics while at college To promote positive community living How to Run the Event: The RA staff needs to sit down and decide what behaviors will be rewarded with ‘hall bucks.’ This can be any range from grades, studying, having the door to the room open, to anything the staff can think up. At the early stages of the program, the staff should try to solicit donations from local businesses that attract (or wish to attract) college students as prizes. These prizes can range anywhere from gift certificates to actual merchandise and products the business distributes. As a staff member observes residents demonstrating these behaviors, that staff member gives them one of the hall bucks. This goes on for the duration of the program. At the end of the program, a prize award ceremony is held and prizes are distributed to the holders of hall bucks. To Do Check List: General Planning _____ Decide where and when to have the prize award night (this will be the conclusion of the program) _____ Request/reserve the location _____ Decide what businesses will be contacted for prize solicitation _____ Decide who will be in charge of contacting the businesses _____ Create the ‘hall buck’ bill (this should resemble a dollar bill) _____ Determine budget for this program and funds available to support the budget _____ Decide upon refreshments for the program (if desired) _____ Decide what behaviors will receive a ‘hall buck’ and how they will be distributed Budget Planning _____ Determine what prizes you wish to have _____ Determine what refreshments to buy _____ Determine what can be solicited from local businesses _____ Allocate needed money Publications, Design, Advertising _____ Design advertising for the idea of the program and use it to market the concept to residents _____ Design the ‘hall buck’ and duplicate them (keep the originals for when more are needed) Solicitation _____ Draft letters of solicitation to be distributed to local businesses _____ Draft thank you letter for participating businesses _____ Distribute letters to local businesses _____ Follow up with the businesses _____ Send thank you letters to participation businesses who agree to donate Begin the Program and Manage the Program Throughout the Semester _____ Remind residents of the program periodically throughout the semester _____ Distribute the ‘hall bucks’ to residents when a particular behavior is observed _____ Keep an accounting of how many residents have received hall bucks. This will help you plan for prize distribution at the awards night. Awards Night Planning _____ Review your accounting of the number of residents who have received hall bucks _____ Plan to have some form of a prize for all residents who earn hall bucks _____ Decide and plan what refreshments you will have (if any) at the event _____ Allocate money for refreshments per your budget _____ Shop for refreshments _____ Shop for prizes (each resident who receives even one Hall Buck should receive a prize at the prize award event) _____ Notify residents of time and location of the Hall Bucks Prize Award night At the Awards Night _____ Determine when prizes will be awarded (at Ball State we have done this at the last hall council meeting of the semester, which allows hall council to conclude the year on a high note). _____ Determine as a staff how prizes will be awarded. Easy to plan for and manage is a silent auction, where individuals with hall bucks convert them into double sided numbered tickets (available for purchase at any office supply store). 50 hall bucks would equal 50 tickets. Individuals would then drop one side of their ticket into a collection bin designated for a particular prize. Prizes are then awarded per a random drawing. _____ If you decide to have a silent auction, you need to purchase double sided numbered tickets equal to the number of hall bucks that have been distributed _____ You should try to make sure that all individuals who earned hall bucks leave with something. Obtain some type of small prize and distribute it to anyone who converts Hall Bucks to tickets (this is why as an RA staff you try to keep track of how many residents receive Hall Bucks). You could always consider going to the dollar store, purchasing items, and placing them in a “treasure chest”. Residents select from the chest as their Hall Bucks are converted to tickets. (If you go this route, you’ll need to shop for these items and obtain a trunk where they can be placed prior to the Prize Award Event) Suggestions for Changes/Variations to this Program: If a member of your staff has the knowledge, and you have access to a scanner, try to design ‘hall bucks’ by incorporating staff member’s photos into them. For a more personal touch, incorporate the name of your hall into the title of the program and the name of your hall bucks. Solicit a variety of prizes to keep residents interested in the program. Ideas for prizes can be anything…local stores and restaurants will usually donate gift certificates (often times you need a letter requesting the donation). Sometimes stores will also donate actual items. Be creative in the variety of stores you ask for donations from. Closing Thoughts on this Program: Hall bucks can be a lot of fun for your building. Rewarding good behavior and grades will not only keep you on the look out for the good things that happen within your hall, but it will allow you to recognize a wider selection of residents who are doing good things. As residents begin to obtain more and more 'hall bucks', you can have them turn them into their RA (i.e. John Doe has collected 50 'hall bucks' coupons, he brings them to his RA and the RA makes a note of this on a floor roster he has set aside for the program). Having residents turn the coupons into their RA's will not only keep “Hall Bucks” copy costs down, but also give the staff a more concise idea of how many small prizes will be needed so that everyone with a Hall Buck walks away with a prize. Having the program end approximately a week before the planned awards night is suggested. This will allow for any last minute planning that needs to take place. The extra week of planning time can also be used to determine if the staff has collected enough prizes for all of the residents who have turned in 'hall bucks'. Submitted by: Daniel Shonk, Resident Assistant, Ball State University