I am a part of the 1 percent. Before you start clenching your fists and locking your eyebrows in a heated fury to pitch tents and protest, you should know that I am not referring to the 1 percent who can afford to bathe in a grotesque amount of gold every day.

Instead of sitting at the tiny tip of a pyramid of power and wealth, this 1 percent can be found sitting in your classrooms, or walking the paths of the panther pavement taking each step with the goal to benefit the lives of others.

Eastern’s Louis V. Hencken Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary is an organization that houses the 1 percent of leaders on campus who exemplify the four pillars of leadership, scholarship, recognition and service.

On Saturday, instead of nursing a hangover like a large portion of students did, NRHH members, new and old, stepped into the chilly 9 a.m. air to pick up trash and recycling on the streets surrounding the campus community.

The morning of service continued with rescuing the Douglas-Hart Nature Center forest preserve from an invasion of honeysuckle shrubs. We won the war, but the honeysuckle opponents proved fierce, as one devil made a 4-inch slice on my right arm as it was being snipped from existence.

The rest of the weekend consisted of journeying to a cabin in Shelbyville to bond through team-building exercises and create new goals, one of which was to spread knowledge of what we accomplish.

When the topic of NRHH comes into conversation, students usually shoot a befuddled expression at me with no signs of comprehension as to what the organization is and what the members do. Well, for starters, I will appeal to the student’s curiosity by asking, “When you drop an empty bottle in the recycling bin at a residence hall, where do you think it goes?” It doesn’t exactly disappear into the depths of Narnia, right?

No, the recycling does not simply vanish into an alternate dimension. Instead, NRHH has a contract with the university to collect the recycling from campus, and the residence hall that recycles the most each month receives a cash award.

NRHH also puts on two main fundraisers each year: one for Breast Cancer Awareness Week and one for student scholarships. The organization has raised about $20,000 in the last few years for the Mills Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the institute named a room after Eastern’s NRHH chapter last year.

The chapter also organizes a fall and spring leadership conference, presents “Of The Month” and “Of The Year” awards to recognize others in the residence halls, hosts the “Winter Wonderland” event for children, and much more.

So the next time you hear about the 1 percent, try to listen closely, as these individuals may not be who you assume them to be.

Rachel Rodgers is a junior journalism major.

She can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.