Leadership at Wright
Although much of Wright life is informal and unstructured, filled with residents knocking on the rooms of their friends and going to meals and classes and events together, Wright's leadership team offers a structured sense of community. Read more to get a summary of the structures built into our residence.
Senior Residents
Senior Residents contribute significantly to the life of the Hall by offering pastoral care and creating small communities in their "wings" of residence. They also offer after-hours support through the duty Senior Resident system; SRs check that doors are locked and the building is secure, run the procedure for fire alarms, liaise in medical emergencies, apply first aid, ensure residents have access to their rooms in case they lock themselves out and ensure maintenance issues are referred onwards.
Residential learning advisors
Residential Learning Advisors (RLAs) act as academic mentors within Wright Hall tasked with enriching residents’ learning experience and providing support for their academic program. They hold weekly consultations and organise academic-related events and activities including peer assisted study sessions.
Consultations are held each weekday during the semester. They are a time where residents can come to an RLA and address any issues or queries they may have about their degree or their studies as a whole. Navigating ANU’s administrative systems can seem particularly daunting, especially for a first year student. An RLA’s job is to help you find what you’re looking for, or to point you in the right direction. Questions they can help with include who to go to plan out your degree, which subjects you should choose or how you would go about transferring and applying for course credit. They can also provide advice on study skills, time management and tips for settling into the demands of university studies.
RLAs run events and activities throughout the academic year. More formal, large scale events they ran in 2018 include “Meet Your Classmates” dinners to assist residents in meeting their peers at the hall and a debate called Contest of Ideas in which two academic speakers were brought into Wright Hall to dispute a topical issue. They run informal events such as a viewing of ABC’s Q&A in one of our common rooms where we provide snacks and discuss the talking points of the show. Regular activities include weekly Study Smashes in the Hive (our dining hall) and their consultations as mentioned before. They also facilitate the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) program for high-enrolment first year subjects. These involve a later year mentor/s running study sessions during the semester and being available to answer student’s queries or concerns with the course.
WHAM
Wright hall Association of Members
The Wright Hall Association of Members (WHAM) is the representative, elected body of students that are responsible for cultural and community life at Wright. They run Orientation Week, Bush Week, and events throughout the year, as well as advocating internally and externally in the interests of residents.
Roles on WHAM
ARTS
The arts reps at Wright are in charge of all things creative and fun. We work alongside the interhall arts committee (IAC) to run events with all colleges at the ANU. We have everything from chess to poetry slam and comprise of a fabulous team of two reps and one first year. Arts at Wright and ANU is a great way to meet people, mingle and get the creative juices flowing.
SPORTS
The Sports Reps are responsible for organising all of Wright's sporting events. We work with the ISO and compete against other halls in all sorts of sports from Badminton to Netball to Footballl. We also run internal sporting events such as Women* in sport week.
INTERNATIONAL
The International Reps help foster cross-cultural ties and run inclusive and accessible events for international students, and the wider hall community. We typically run small low-pressure, high-chill/fun events (that typically involve food) . We also run larger events in collaboration with the Interhall International Committee like kebab nights and board game nights. We try to promote cultural immersion and appreciation within the hall itself in order to help international students with transitioning to life in Australia.
SOCIAL
The Social Reps organise a whole range of social events where all of Wright can come together. Whether it be larger scale O-week/ Bush Week parties, Wright Hall Ball or the occasional karaoke session and movie night, we try to make Wright Hall an inclusive and vibrant space to live. Social Reps also form connections with the wider ANU college system through the Social Interhall Committee (SIC) allowing us to host joint mixers with our neighbouring colleges.
COMMS & MEDIA
The Communications and Media rep coordinates promotion of WHAM events, college photography, communication within and between WHAM and advocacy, Wright's social media and this website! They also manage the Media and Communications Subcommittee, an awesome group of residents who make sure no events go unpromoted or unphotographed.
EXEC
The most senior positions on WHAM are the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary.
The President and VP coordinate WHAM, attend meetings on behalf of the community with the University, administration and with other Halls and Colleges and gather feedback from the community.
The Secretary is responsible for logistical components of WHAM and the Treasurer essentially oversees all financial matters relevant to the running of WHAM. They are responsible for putting together the Annual Budget and monitoring/approving all expenses made by the Committee throughout the year and they report regularly to the Committee, Head of Hall and wider student body on the financial circumstances of the Committee.