BYU resident hall manager Ben Hess and student Laura Andrearsen celebrated their recent nominations to be members of the Resident Hall Association Regional Board of Directors.

According the National Association of College and University Resident Halls Web site, the Resident Hall Association is the largest student organization in the world. RHA plans and implements program for all on campus residents.

Twice a year, two conferences are held for every region. With 11 categories, students are recognized twice a year for a single month on various categories for accomplished students and staff that contributed to the needs of BYU residents.

Hess won a bid to sit on the regional board of directors and Andrearsen won bids for a regional executive position with competition from advisers and students at Arizona State University and the University of Colorado.

The selection involved a ten-minute presentation, followed by a twenty-minute question-and-answer period and ten-minute pro-con sessions for each candidate.

"It was pretty unnerving," Hess said. "We expected the first candidate to be in the board room for 30 minutes and he stayed in for an hour."

As the regional adviser, Hess said one of his main goals will be to increase regional involvement by adding several small-scale conferences in states or sub-regional areas.

"The possibility of BYU hosting one of those conferences excites me," Hess said. "That kind of enthusiasm can help build our Residence Halls Association to meet the needs of more residents."

Andrearsen's process proved just as unnerving.

"My stomach was out of control for a day and a half until the elections on the evening of March 22," Andrearsen said. "I was anxious to find out results, but the nervousness was nothing compared to my pre-presentation hysteria."

Andrearsen went on to say that she will dedicate much of her involvement to extinguishing common self-righteous and snotty stereotypes at BYU.

"By putting myself out there for BYU, I'll get even more opportunities to show that BYU is about leadership, service, charity and learning," she said.