Anna Schnefke (center) with Jason Packard and Amanda Pisarczyk, directors of RHA's Wacky Dacky 5K Fun Run Walk Roll.
My name is Anna Schnefke and I’m excited to serve as president of this year’s Residence Hall Association (RHA). I’m currently a senior at Purdue, double majoring in finance and marketing, and call Fishers, Indiana my hometown. My involvement with RHA has grown over the years, starting as a freshman when my older sister, Claire, was the RHA president. Seeing her leadership gave me an early insight into the importance of RHA and I’ve been passionate about contributing ever since. In my sophomore year, I became a resident assistant (RA) in Windsor Halls where I was on the hall club committee. During my junior year, I stepped into the role of advocacy director for RHA and now, as a senior, I serve as the president!
We started off the school year in typical fashion with RHA Day, a welcome back to campus event. This was our seventh annual RHA Day on Meredith Lawn during the first week of classes. We had over 1,500 students come and enjoy our carnival-themed party, with tie-dye, carnival games, sand art, pizza, prizes, and of course an inflatable waterslide! Along with the pure social activities we had opportunities for residents to connect with leadership in each of their halls and other organizations on campus. Individual hall clubs, University Residences Multicultural Center (URMC), University Residences Global (UR Global), Purdue Dining & Culinary, and Boilers In Action were all present at the event engaging with students, many of whom were brand new to campus.
Our goal this year is to ensure that Purdue students, especially those living on campus, truly feel at home. RHA Day is just one of the many exciting events we have planned. We’re also continuing important initiatives like "Hygiene Handouts," which provides students with free essentials such as shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant. Coming up soon, RHA will host a Halloween Spooktacular featuring candy, pumpkin painting, face painting, Just Dance (a video game series) and more. Our executive board is eager to keep creating opportunities for students to connect while also advancing our advocacy efforts to ensure everyone feels comfortable calling Purdue home.
My favorite initiative of RHA’s is definitely our Wacky Dacky Rubber Ducky 5K Fun Run Walk Roll Charity Race. This is a charity 5K spearheaded by RHA. We ask hall clubs to participate in creating the fun run aspect of it. The course runs through much of campus. RHA places different hall clubs along the course and they are tasked with making their area the most Wacky Dacky they can, whether that's with an absurd amount of bubbles, pancakes or bouncy house obstacle courses. The race starts and ends in Cary Quad with a Wacky Dacky Party to celebrate all the money raised. All of the race fee is donated to charity, allowing us to donate enough money to raise over 8,000 meals for families facing food insecurity. We have already started planning our third annual Wacky Dacky Rubber Ducky 5K and hope to see you there Sunday, April 13!
Written by Anna Schnefke, senior, Purdue University