A group of people have congregated on campus with one goal in mind: changing others’ lives.
This year’s Intermountain Association of College and University Residence Halls regional conference started Thursday night and will close Saturday.
The association is a student organization that trains students and staff who work in the residence halls in both leadership and organizational roles.
Opening ceremonies took place in the Union Ballroom on Thursday night.
The conference consists of leadership training, program- development seminars, two keynote speakers and a service project.
About 345 students and staff from 27 schools from the Midwest will stay in the residence halls and participating in the conference.
Adrian Johnson, president of the Associated Students of the University of Utah, spoke to the participants, telling them that they were, “in the business of creating people’s ‘good old days.'”
“Who can say that an academic education is more important than a social education?” Johnson said.
Brian Brooks from Colorado State University said, “[I’m looking to get] some new ideas to put forth on our campus,” Brooks said, “and to meet new people.”
Will Keim, a motivational speaker, was the night’s keynote.
“[I want to] provide you with tools to change people’s lives, because that’s what you do, change people’s lives,” Keim said.
Keim told the audience that he had recently received a letter from one of the students he had advised in earlier years.
The letter told Keim that he was the only individual who discouraged the letter’s author from smoking marijuana.
The individual was now in rehab and had been counseled to write to those who had discouraged him from the behavior.
Keim says that it’s important for the students to make a difference in the lives of others.
In addition to the other activities, students will make quilts to give to Primary Children’s Hospital for this year’s service project.