The Inter Residence Hall Government’s (IRHG) program Fishing for Diversity was awarded the Midwest Affiliate of the National Associate of College & University Residence Halls (MACURH) Program of the Year Award.
At the Regional Leadership Conference in Rolla, Missouri, the National Residence Hall Honorary selected Creighton IRHG’s Fishing for Diversity as the Program of the Year. The Program of the Year award is designed to recognize an outstanding student-implemented residential life program. This award was created in an effort to acknowledge the high level of initiative and professionalism essential to student programming. Creighton IRHG competed for the award against other institutions from the region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri.
IRHG hosted Fishing for Diversity on September 20th on Brandeis Lawn. Students attending the program visited stations focused on a variety of identities such as geographical region, religion, race, and ethnicity, along with several others. At each station, residents were able to identify with a rock color that signified an experience they had relating to that aspect of their identity. They selected their rocks and placed them in a fishbowl, and at the final station, they received a betta fish.
Author of the award bid proposal, Erika Bartschat, was very excited to be recognized for all of the team’s hard work. She had this to say about the experience:
“Fishing for Diversity is a program that we put on every year, but this year we challenged ourselves to see how far we could take this program. We spent a lot of time intentionally thinking about what it means to promote diversity and inclusion. Through the dialogue being had, we felt as though this program was able to make a difference and bring awareness to our campus. We knew that we wanted to share the idea with other schools to help them bring awareness too.”
IRHG President Trevor J. Sandidge had this to say about the award.
“I’m really proud of what this group has been able to do this year. We’ve got many underclassmen on our team this year, who when they started the year they didn’t have much experience. So for us to win an award of this caliber speaks a lot to what our group has to offer. I want to especially thank my Director of Innovative Programs, Erika Bartschat on all of the hard work that she put into the program and this award. Furthermore, I’d like to thank our partners, the Creighton Intercultural Center and Petco for all of their help in making this program successful.”
Creighton IRHG will be traveling to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this summer to represent Creighton and the Midwest at the National Associate of College and University Residence Halls’ Annual Conference.
