Brandon Hall beat out the other 36 residence halls at Miami University by 120 points to win the first ever Hall Cup, presented by the Residence Hall Association (RHA).
The Hall Cup was a yearlong competition, running from August to April, in which all the residence halls gained points by attending any RHA or residence hall-sponsored events, as well as for raising money for different philanthropies.
Matt Forrest, president of RHA, said during the fall 2008 semester students raised money for Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and this semester money was raised for World Vision.
Jillian Kiska, first-year adviser for Brandon Hall, said she was surprised at how seriously the residents of her hall took the competition.
"We took it really seriously basically because we have the RedHawk Tradition LLC (living-learning community) in Brandon Hall," Kiska said.
First-year Jessica Scott was the appointed president of Brandon's community council, as well as the hall's general assembly representative for RHA.
Scott said she was excited about the Hall Cup because she felt the competition was a way to unite the students living in residence halls, as well as to get people excited about living in the residence halls.
"I think it's really sad when people come to school, and they're only involved in certain things," Scott said.
Throughout the course of the year, Scott, along with Kiska, and Resident Assistant Brett Schneider, planned a number of activities in Brandon Hall that not only were fun for the students but that also helped the hall gain points in the competition.
"We came to the conclusion that food really helped," Scott said.
Activities included a mock-trial party for the women in the hall and a hot dog eating contest for the men.
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They also showed the men's hockey game against Bemidji State in the basement of Brandon, as well as held an appreciation day for the housekeeping staff. Brandon Hall also won the Homecoming hall-decorating contest.
"A lot of it was so people in the dorm could meet other people in the dorm," Schneider said.
Brandon and McFarland Hall also went head-to-head in two dodge ball tournaments this semester. The two community councils set up the first tournament, which McFarland won. The second was set up by the advisers and didn't contribute any points to the competition.
Forrest agreed the competition was a way to create stronger ties among the students living in residence halls.
"Competition is one of the best ways to get there," Forrest said.
Forrest said he is pleased with the results of this year's competition, and he hopes to create new programming next year. One of the events he is working on creating is a residence hall division within intramural sports.
Forrest said he believes the new sophomore living requirement will help make things easier for next year.
"If anything I think it will be less difficult because we have a wider base of students to reach," Forrest said.
Forrest said he is also working on getting a cup that will get passed around to each year's winning residence hall, as well as a plaque in the RHA office that will list the winning residence hall.
Brandon Hall won the Hall Cup with 1,000 points, and Emerson Hall came in second with 980 points.
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