GRO honored as top organization

The Graduate Representative Organization (GRO) of Johns Hopkins was awarded the highest honor of Graduate/Professional Student Organization of the Year at the annual National Association of Graduate and Professional Studies (NAGPS) Conference in Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 10. This award acknowledged the efforts of the Hopkins GRO to address and solve current issues such as the cost of health insurance, the lack of social activities for graduate students at Homewood as well as other problems that face graduate students at Hopkins.

The conference, sponsored by the NAGPS, was attended by representatives from over 25 universities around the country. The Hopkins GRO was cited for their exceptional efforts in improving life issues for graduate students, including the implementation of a plan to fund health care costs for graduate students and the creation of Hopkins' first graduate student orientation program.

"We have a great staff of graduate students who really care about the graduate community at Hopkins," said current GRO chair Mary Berk, in a recent press release. "They join because they want to see things change for the better. This award is a completely unexpected acknowledgment that we've actually made a difference."

Over the past few years, the GRO has bloomed from a small student group into an organized forum for advocating issues that face graduate students. Former GRO chair Tony Stapon recalled his vision for the GRO when he was elected in 1999; at that time, the organization consisted of less than 10 members.

"I wanted to bring more accountability and efficiency to the organization," he said.

Through the work of members like Stapon and Berk, the GRO has nearly quadrupled in size. Today, the organization includes representatives from 20 academic departments at the Homewood campus.

One of the major accomplishments of the GRO has been the implementation of a plan to subsidize graduate student health insurance costs. The rising cost of health insurance has always been a major problem for graduate students. In recent years, both Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania have announced their decisions to include health care costs as part of the graduate stipend. The GRO is currently working to implement a similar program at Hopkins. Stapon emphasized the need for a fund dedicated solely for graduate students, noting the financial sacrifice that graduate students make in order to continue their education. Graduate education "is sort of like a job, but the University doesn't count us as employees. We don't get the benefits that University employees do," he said.

The health insurance endowment fund is only one of the many contributions that the GRO has made to graduate life at Hopkins. In the future, the organization will continue to address the issues of non-resident tuition fees and varying departmental stipend amounts. Over the past few years, the efforts of the GRO have been successful in implementing major policy changes to improve the lives of graduate students at Hopkins.

When asked why they believe the Hopkins GRO was chosen as the Graduate/Professional Student Organization of the Year, Berk said, "I think they were going on the overall impression that we rock.