Leadership and dancing kicked off Res-Hall-A-Palooza Saturday.

The Residence Life Leadership Institute held in Kildee Hall with 60 people in attendance included two keynote speakers and three breakout sessions. The day ended with a dance hosted by Turner House in Oak-Elm Hall.

Thomas Hill, vice president for Student Affairs, set the tone of the day by starting the leadership conference off with a few words to challenge leaders, said Andy Walling, Richardson Court Association president.

The first keynote speaker was Bill Cordes, a motivational speaker. Cordes emphasized leadership, relating it to the experiences students have while in college and how they can use it in the future.

Cordes’ main theme was “Yogowypi,” which means, “You only get out what you put in.”

John Shertzer, graduate assistant for leadership development for residence life, said Cordes’ speech was helpful for any student.

“It was a very motivational speech that students could use to be better leaders in college and beyond,” he said.

The second speaker was Mary Harms, adjunct instructor of marketing. While using more personal experiences in her speech, Shertzer said she used challenging and helpful experiences in her growth to be a better leader.

Throughout the conference, there were three breakout sessions in which students could choose sessions with different topics to attend. Sessions were led by a wide variety of people from student presenters, officers of organizations, hall directors and other professionals.

Walling, who presented a breakout session on the new RCA government, said he also attended a session by Todd Foley, graduate student in education leadership and policy studies, called “Choose Your Attitude.”

“It was a great cooperative seminar,” said Walling, junior in pre-business. “It was about how to motivate your peers and the residence hall students.”

Shertzer said he was very happy with how the day turned out.

“Overall I thought it was a great success, and I’m very proud of the students that put the event together and the students that took a Saturday to attend the event,” he said. “I hope this is the start of a brand new tradition at Iowa State.”

Res-Hall-A-Palooza concluded Saturday night with a semi-formal dance hosted by Turner House in Elm Hall, Stevenson House in Birch Hall and the Inter-Residence Hall Association. “Midsemester Night’s Dream” featured a jazz band and swing dance lessons for the 200 people in attendance.

Everyone did a great job of organizing such a fun event, Walling said.

“I thought it was a lot of fun, it was well organized, and I think people had a lot of fun,” said Jacquelyn Sun, senior in biological and premedical illustration.

Lisa Klocke, Turner House resident assistant, also said she was pleased with the attendance.

“I think it went well,” said Klocke, junior in elementary education. “I was really happy with the turnout at the beginning.”