Residence halls bring the noise at DREAM 2014
Walking through campus Saturday, school spirit was at its finest as students screamed "fire up chips!"
Central Michigan University’s Residence Hall Assembly held its 24th annual DREAM Leadership Conference with program sessions in the Bovee University Center, a Mock Rock dance competition in Plachta Auditorium and a dinner banquet and dance in the Powers Ballroom.
“(DREAM) is a day-long conference where students can learn from one another and have the opportunity to exchange ideas and make connections,” said Residence Hall Assembly President Eric Ostrowski. “The theme of this year’s conference is ‘All the places you could go,’ symbolizing the many paths in life students can live out.”
The residence halls were also working to raise money for the Mount Pleasant Mobile Food Pantry. A total of $2,903 was raised, with Saxe/Herrig/Celani halls raising the most with more than $600.
Roughly 200 students represented the residence halls of CMU. Each hall delegated 12 students to attend the DREAM conference to represent the hall.
The Twitter account, @CMUDream2014, was created for this year’s conference so students could tweet about their experience and share the fun
The majority of the group attended DREAM on Saturday for the first time.
The keynote address
This year’s keynote speaker was Danielle Rossman, CMU coordinator of student organization services, discussing choices and making decisions student can be proud of.
“The choices we make affect our lives,” Rossman said. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Think about the people you spend your time with. Are they impacting you?”
Rossman told the audience of 18 to 24 year olds the average life expectancy is somewhere in the 70s and their lives are about 25 percent completed. She asked everyone if they felt they had accomplished 25 percent of what they wanted in life.
“What are you doing with your time?” she asked. “Everyone has roughly 65 hours of free time a week, how do you spend it? We decide our future. We decide where to go in life. Are the choices you’re making showing who you want to be?”
After the keynote address, RHA hosted several seminars to teach the representative various skills such as how to communicate better and confronting stereotypes.
“I got some leadership ideas on how to get out of my comfort zone and not be so in-your-face,” said Canton sophomore Justice Berry. “Mock Rock was also awesome.”
Let the Mock Rock begin
Outside Plachta Auditorium, before the start of Mock Rock, students cheered and roared chants for the residence halls and CMU.
Each hall performed a different theme, from Thorpe Hall’s enthusiastic “Harry Potter” dance, to Kesseler’s sultry moves inspired by India’s culture.
The skits were judged by SGA President Marie Reimers, the President of Saginaw Valley State University RHA, Dan Hill, the Communications Coordinator for Michigan State, D’Andra Sanders and Ferris State University junior Niecey Wooten, NRHH communication coordinator.
Later in the evening, the representatives gathered in the Powers Hall Ballroom for a banquet and awards presentation.
Larzelere Hall won best Mock Rock with its rendition of “The Wizard of Oz.”
Brighton freshman and Larzelere resident Julianne DeMarco was rendered speechless after the announcement as she shed tears of joy.
“I haven’t slept in a week and a half,” DeMarco said. “I didn’t think we had it. Everyone else was so good.”
After handing out awards, the representatives from the halls stayed to dance the night away in the Powers Ballroom.
