Student ambassadors from ARHE’s 9th annual conference having fun at the butterfly garden in Houston (From Left to Right -Jennifer S., Victoria W., Belle L., Sazha R.).

The Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE) strongly believes in the involvement of students within the organization. This includes student participation on the board, the annual conferences, student interns, and a variety of other student development programming. This semester we would like to introduce ARHE’s newest interns, Belle Lavery and Sazha Ramos.  

Belle and Sazha met this summer as volunteers at the 9th annual ARHE conference at the University of Houston. Belle worked primarily with greeting and registration, while Sazha was a social media ambassador. After forming their friendship as roommates and volunteers, both women were inspired to get involved with ARHE.  

Though these two women found recovery differently, they attribute their success in recovery to their collegiate recovery communities. Sazha, a graduate from Northern Arizona University, is currently exploring graduate degrees while taking ancillary college classes. She is serving as the Social Media and Communications Intern. Sazha states, “My collegiate recovery community is where I learned to thrive. I knew I had it in me to become an exceptional student. My collegiate recovery community saw that too and kept me accountable to my better self”. As the Social Media Intern, she will be working with all social media platforms as well as keeping up to date on all current collegiate recovery news and events. She encourages colleges to tag ARHE on all platforms this semester and send your photos for a feature.  

Belle is devoted to her community and collegiate recovery which is why she is the perfect fit as the Leadership Academy Outreach intern.  As the Leadership Academy rolls out, Belle’s primary role will be to support the creation and function of the Academy. Belle says, “I was only able to come back to CU Boulder because of the collegiate recovery community. And I wouldn’t even have wanted to if I didn’t have this place.  I have discovered a whole new culture within my college campus that I never knew existed. The raw person to person connection, fun, support and friendships that have sprouted from within this community have saved my life. This community has also changed the way I view college and being a young adult.  Turns out you don’t have to be a wild party cat to be a college student, who knew”.   

With more colleges offering collegiate recovery support and The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Education releasing a joint statement regarding the success and necessity of Collegiate Recovery Programs in colleges and universities across the country, collegiate recovery will continue to grow. There are more than 250 campuses offering recovery support services. By working side by side, these two women hope to expand and enrich the collegiate recovery community.  

Need help getting your collegiate recovery program started? ARHE has regional representatives as point of contact. Reach out to us at recovery@4bj.c9c.myftpupload.com!