University News
Tanner Hall Resident Assistants Receive National Award
February 21, 2008
MACOMB, IL -- When a few of Western Illinois University's Tanner Hall resident assistants were looking for a new way to promote diversity, they wanted to come up with a creative way to get the point across to their residents. Their creativity led to the "Lifesize Game of Life" to give Tanner residents a glimpse of what members of a specific community faces in terms of discrimination and misunderstanding.
In recognition of this unique residence life program, the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) recently selected the Tanner program for the National Program of the Month Award. Western is a member of NACURH, a student organization of more than 350 schools nationwide. Each month the WIU Carolyn Grote Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary selects a program to send to the national association for consideration.
"Lifesize Game of Life" was created in November 2007 by Tanner Hall resident assistants (RAs) Krista Wiseman, a senior psychology major from Belvidere (IL), Meghan Morrill, a senior elementary education major from Lake Forest (IL) and Emily Wehling, a junior art major from Edwardsville (IL), as a unique diversity program, which focuses on the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) community.
"We really wanted to create an interactive program that would challenge the barriers needed to open the minds of those participating," explained Wiseman.
To make the game interactive, a lifesize board game was created out of large pieces of paper and cardboard and participants became the game pieces. According to Wiseman, students were randomly chosen, and instead of plastic spouses and children placed in their "car," individuals were selected from the audience to walk with the participant as either a spouse or child. In an attempt to challenge barriers that many GLBT families struggle with, new life stories were created.
"Each space a family landed on had a different story which added to the dynamic of the game. For example, a male student is walking through the game as a homosexual male searching for a life partner to start a family with. On one space, his father does not approve of his lifestyle, while on another space, he may be turned down for the third time to adopt a child solely because his partner is the same sex as he is," said Wiseman. "Unique scenarios are created for each space and for each family. And, just like the original game, players walk through the game, collecting salaries and other sources of money as they go, eventually retiring. The player with the most money at the end wins."
At the end of the game, the Tanner Hall RAs led a discussion in which players shared their feelings and how the game challenged their thinking. Prior to introducing the "Lifesize Game of Life" to their residents, the RAs presented the program, "Tanner Truth Ads," which were comprised of various statistics and facts that were placed throughout the residence hall.
"Any spectator of the game was able to see how invested the players became in their new identities. Frustration was clear by those who encountered setbacks in their stories, such as having to move because their children are constantly being made fun of or not being able to be recognized as a legal lifelong partnership under the law of their current state," said Wiseman. "The chance to walk in the shoes of someone possibly different from themselves can challenge someone's current way of thinking and raise awareness of the struggles others may face on a daily basis."
John Biernbaum, assistant vice president of student services-student life, said that winning the national association's Program of the Month award "is a great honor."
"The Tanner Hall resident assistants are to be applauded for their creativity in creating this educational program that can have far-reaching effects," Biernbaum added. "The resident assistants' dedication and commitment to their jobs is apparent; we're proud to have them as a part of the University housing staff."
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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