Kenny H. graduated from high school and Wyman’s Teen Leadership Program (TLP) in 2009. Since then he has completed his first year at Missouri State University, for which he received a full four-year scholarship through a partnership between Wyman and the university. Below, Kenny tells the story of his proud rise from newcomer freshman to National Communications Coordinator, and his advice for other college students on getting involved.
After graduating from high school and TLP, I arrived at Missouri State University, and applied to be on Hall Council within my Residence Hall. I interviewed for the position and was given the Residence Hall Association Liaison position on the executive board of Hall Council. At the time, I had no idea what that meant, or where it would take me by the end of my first semester.
My position as RHA Liaison meant that I attended meetings every Monday and told everybody from the other residence halls what was going on in my residence hall, Wells House. I started to really enjoy the energy and atmosphere that came with my position and looked up to the other student leaders who held positions on the executive board.
After two months of being RHA Liaison for Wells Hall Council, at an event during homecoming week, three executive board members of RHA approached me and said, “Kenny, have you thought about applying to be on RHA exec. for next year?” The answer was no, I hadn’t thought about it. But they encouraged me to apply, and I did. I ran in an election to be the National Communications Coordinator (NCC) later in that same semester against an upperclassman, and I was elected to the position near the very end of my first semester at college!
I spent the spring semester job shadowing the NCC before me, and training to be an RHA exec. my sophomore year. My new position revolves around attending regional and national conferences to represent MSU among other from schools all over the country. Because of my position, my school has paid me to travel to the Universities of Lincoln, Nebraska; Western Illinois; San Diego, California, and Iowa State University.
Now that I hold a position on RHA exec., I have been given opportunities to apply for many other positions on campus including Resident Assistant, Residential Programming Assistant, University Ambassador, SOAR Leader, front desk worker, PRC worker, and many other titles with long acronyms that usually require much explanation.
My strongest piece of advice to give to any incoming or current college student would be to get involved. There are countless opportunities at any college, whether they are in fraternities/sororities, the Residence Hall Association, Student Activities Council, Student Government Association, or any other organization. Some of these opportunities start off as something small, but as soon as you step through that door you enter a hallway lined with doors of other opportunities. View each experience as a stepping stone to another. If in my first semester as a freshman I can go from average student to National Communications Coordinator of the Residence Hall Association traveling to the University of California, San Diego, imagine what you can do!
