Newly elected SOARC chair skates, mediates

04/14/09 - Katherine Holland, the new chair of the Student Organization Advisory and Review Committee knew she wanted to join the group the second she was elected to Student Senate. But the University of Rhode Island junior nursing major knew she wanted to work with people long before this semester.Synchronized skating, a hobby of hers, provided an excellent training ground for working as a team player starting in elementary school.

"Skating really taught me to work well with others," Holland said. "You have to know when you clash with personalities and work through that to get past it."

Synchronized skating, unlike freestyle figure skating, is a team sport, usually composed of eight to 20 skaters performing a program at one time.

The type of teamwork required in the sport gave Holland a chance to experience a variety of different personalities working together, which she said she will apply to her new position.

SOARC is a group within the Student Senate that acts as a liaison between different student-recognized organizations, as well as members within each group. Holland said that although SOARC goals change from semester to semester, its essential mission remains the same.

"If student groups are having trouble working through anything like meeting deadlines or making smooth transitions, that's what we're there for," Holland said. "Also, if there's anyone who wants to be a student group, they come to us and we help them. Then we see if they meet the criteria for a student-recognized group. "

The Massachusetts native said being on the senate Finance Committee last semester helped give her a deeper understanding of student groups and how everything coincides. The hardest part of her job, she said, will be handling group re-recognitions in the fall.

"We still have groups coming to us saying they want to be a new group," Holland said. "We're going to come up with a plan to manage that, but some groups have a way of weeding themselves out."

She said that by re-recognition time, some groups "drop back" in numbers and organization, even after being recently recognized. Though there are more student groups than ever, Holland said she doesn't foresee a problem with keeping up with the expanding on-campus activity.

"[SOARC] is keeping on top of about 90 groups at this point," Holland said. "I am new in this position, and I'm working really hard to not let groups slip through the cracks."

One way senate has already done this, she noted, is the new Cultural Affairs Committee brainchild: The 2009 Rammies awards ceremony.

"The Rammies are a chance to honor student groups who excelled in little categories - they get to show off what they've done," she said. "It's another way to bring student groups together."

Holland has been a part of various student groups, including the Student Nurses Association, the Independent Scribe and Psychology Club. But when she's not helping groups come together, she can be found at her other home - near the ice.

"I work at the ice rink on campus," she said, grinning. She added that she doesn't have much time for skating now, but "maybe after I retire" she might return to the sport.