A Brief History of NRHH

(taken from NACURH, Inc.)

In 1964, the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH), Inc. found itself with financial difficulties. Jim Tschechtelin, NACURH Chair, began investigating possibilities for potential revenue sources and grants. Grants were found, but there were two requirements: a central NACURH office had to be established, and the member schools needed more services rendered. Thus, April 25, 1964 at the University of Denver during the annual NACURH Conference the National Residence Hall Honorary was created as an answer to the second requirement.

During the preliminary organization, the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) focused on the incorporation of old into new. Campuses with existing honorary organizations were contacted and coordinated into the NRHH structure. The preservation of chapter identity was primary, as it was incorporated into the NRHH structure, and as each campus is aware of its own individual needs. The primary focus of each chapter became the recognition of the residence hall leaders on its campus. This helped sustain a consistent membership in on-campus organizations, as well as, on the regional and national levels within NACURH.

The years between 1977 and 1987 were years of growth for the NRHH. Pins and certificates were produced to recognize the members of the honorary, the tradition of regional and national receptions during conferences began and formal recruitment and affiliation packets were produced. Regional Recruiter (now called Associate Directors) positions on regional boards were also established. Many awards were created including Program, National Communications Coordinator, Advisor, Student, and Resident Assistant “Of-The-Month” Awards as well as the NRHH Outstanding Chapter of the Year.

Today, well over 200 chapters are affiliated with the honorary through the NACURH Information Center. NRHH has become more intertwined into the NACURH Corporate Structure by the addition of the National Associate for the NRHH and Special Initiatives (NAN) to the National Executive Team and its continuance to be the organizations major source of recognition. Activities of the chapters vary from campus to campus. Some simply induct new members at an annual recognition banquet every year, thus, an honorary chapter. Others are extremely active on their campuses and in their communities, coordinating leadership retreats, conferences, socials, hall or campus wide programs, fund raisers, and a whole host of other events. Still others have found a middle ground which suits their campus. Membership selection is conducted by each individual chapter. The chapter members represent the top 1% of the student leaders on campus and are those who have contributed extraordinary amounts of personal time and energy in order to make the residence halls more than a "dorm."

Mizzou Chapter Traditions/Events

Below are short descriptions of traditions and events that our chapter has founded.  Each has become ingrained into our chapter and each fulfills the four pillars of our organization in its own way.

OTM Competition

Our chapter each year hosts an OTM Competition between the residence halls here on the Mizzou campus.  Each OTM submitted has points associated with it and winning OTMs get extra points at each level.  We give regular updates of OTM points via email and encourage healthy competition between residence halls while still keeping in line with the high quality of submissions demanded by the organization.  At the end of the year we announce our competition winner at Among the Stars.

Among the Stars

This is our traditional end-of-year celebration event.   We announce a number of awards at this event including our OTM Competition winning residence hall.  During preparations for it, chapter members select and vote on some of our best OTM submissions.  We as a chapter select the best submission in each category for the whole year and award that OTM the title "Of-The-Year."  Among the Stars is a great opportunity to recognize and reward those people/groups/programs for their outstanding contributions to the residence halls here at MU.  In addition to "Of-The-Year" awards, we also award Bronze Pins for leadership excellence.  The NRHH President and RHA President select those recipients together with a maximum of eight recipients per year.  In addition to these specific awards, we also invite our past OTM winners in general as a means of recognizing them for their contributions and saying "thank you" for all they do.  Among the Stars is a great way to wrap up the year!

Highway Clean-Up

The Mizzou Chapter of NRHH has adopted a stretch of road in Columbia that we cleanup regularly.  As part of the cleanup, we generally treat our members to lunch.  This serves not only as a great service event but also as an opportunity for team-building within the organization as a whole.

"You're A Smart Cookie" Campaign

This event is new this year but we are hoping for it to become a quick tradition on the Mizzou campus.  The "You're A Smart Cookie" Campaign entails awarding our residents for working hard academically during the Fall semester.  At the beginning of the Spring semester, our chapter runs grade checks on our residence hall students (providing those not wishing to participate with an "opt-out") and those meeting a certain GPA requirement from the previous semester, determined by the organization, receive a packaged cookie in their mailbox.  It is a small gesture of recognition for their academic success and one that we are happy to provide.