Feuerborn and Thomas to lead RHA

As executives transition, cooperation is key.

By Krissy Tripp

Published March 2, 2009

Rachel Feuerborn and Lauren Thomas were elected Residence Halls Association president and vice president. The announcement was made Friday night in The Upper Crust ballroom during the Res Hall Ball.

Before finding out the results, Feuerborn and Thomas said they were feeling a bit nervous, especially about opposing candidates Blake Lawrence and Jon Cleair.

When the voting site was not working at midnight Thursday, the time when the election first started, the slate panicked and called RHA Board of Elections Chairman Nate Ballance, who is also RHA vice president.

"We were on the phone with Nate by 12:01," Thomas said.

The slate said it was terrified it would be a repeat of last semester's Missouri Students Association presidential election, which had to be postponed due to technical problems with the Web site. The RHA site was up and running around 8:30 a.m. More than 600 residents voted, an increase from the last few years.

After dinner, Ballance introduced former RHA Congress Speaker Tanner Tucker, who spoke about what his involvement in RHA had done for him. Before announcing the winners, Ballance gave his own speech about leaving RHA next year.

The slate stood smiling widely at the announcement and took the microphone to give their acceptance speech.

"I'm shaking nervously, and I'm just so excited I can't even tell you," Feuerborn said.

Ballance and Thomas discussed how they plan to make a smooth transition, something many of the candidates cited as a reason for some of RHA's executive problems.

Ballance said this would be the first real transition period for any vice president. Although they had the delayed takeover system in place last year, Ballance had already been the vice president, so he knew what was expected.

Both Ballance and Thomas said their good working relationship and familiarity with one another would help to gloss the path for a smooth transition.

"There will be bumps in the road," Ballance said. "Good leaders like Rachel and Lauren will be able to work around them and work them out."

Ballance said he plans to take Thomas along to meetings with him so she can learn the network he's built. He said this would be the easiest part of her transition because she is easy to get along with and others will see her work ethic and dedication.

Ballance also plans to go to her office hours and help her with weak points, such as a lack of experience writing legislation.

Thomas said they will need to be taught how to write legislation from Ballance and Wood, but their main concern is whether residents will be willing to come to them with legislation ideas.

Thomas said that though she and Feuerborn don't take office immediately, they would like to get a couple things underway. Applications for executive positions will be out within the next two weeks as they look for candidates who are ready to be involved and understand the time commitment.