Residence halls are often known around campus as a great way to get involved and have academic success. This spring the Inter-Residence Hall Association is allowing students to take events into their own hands through the Plan an Event scholarship contest.

“We have some money for scholarships,” said Jake Mallams, sophomore in aerospace engineering and Inter-Residence Hall Association president. “And we were thinking up of creative ways of giving the money back to the students. What we ended up coming up with was a pretty neat idea to try and bring together students and IRHA and have them plan events as well.”

The $500 scholarship is up for grabs for any student currently living in the residence halls, excluding parliament members and Inter-Residence Hall Association executives.

Mark Humphreys, sophomore in chemical engineering, is the creative mind behind this scholarship opportunity, as well as the recipient of the applications.

Up to four events will be chosen; the winners then will then carry out the event. Then the scholarships will be awarded.

“We figured we could have students plan an event, come and pitch it to parliament, and if parliament likes it, we could give them the money for the event as well as the money for the scholarship,” Mallams said.

The events that students come up with should be submitted by Feb. 26. They will then be reviewed; some will be selected for a five-minute presentation that will explain the events’ objectives as well as the budgets, locations and times.

“If you have an idea, definitely contact somebody, and they should be able to walk you through the process,” said Mallams. “It is a very doable thing as long as a bit of effort is put in.”

The events students plan should be in the time frame of March 25 through April 28.

“We already do a lot of events throughout the year, but I think [Plan an Event] helps give another perspective,” said Shannon Goes, sophomore in chemistry and the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s director of events. “It allows a way for students to get involved.”

Students who take initiative and advantage of this opportunity will have a good shot at being picked.

“Usually the only problem we have is not getting enough applications. So if you really like what you are doing, other students will like what you are doing,” Goes said.

The Inter-Residence Hall Association is excited to see what ideas students come up with for events. However, there are a few restrictions in creating events.

“As long as the detailed and outlined budget that comes with the application is reasonable, IRHA has a lot of money they can put toward events,” Goes said.

Ideas for an event are endless.

“[It would] even be cool if an event could be incorporated with VEISHEA activities,” Goes said.

The winning events will be announced March 7.

“They will be really awesome; students have a passion for fun things, so if they work on it on their own time, I think we will see a lot of awesome stuff,“ Goes said.