The theme of this year’s Residents On Campus Festival, presented by the Residence Hall Association, will have a Mardi Gras theme for all its events this week.

Ashley Hoogstraten, the RHA programming and diversity coordinator, is in charge of the event and said she chose the Mardi Gras theme because it offers students a unique experience.

“It’s a theme people aren’t exposed to every day,” Hoogstraten said.

She said the first ROCFest had a musical theme while last year’s event had a decades theme where residence halls were given specific decades to dress as and had events which were targeted at those years.

Hoogstraten said she enjoyed the decades theme last year, but the Mardi Gras theme this year will provide students with activities which are more enjoyable.

“It’s just a fun theme to have for ROCFest,” Hoogstraten said.

Residents who participate will be given Mardi Gras beads for victory and for participating in the event.

The beads can then be exchanged for prizes at the Masquerade Ball at 7 p.m. on Saturday in the Pemberton Hall Piano Lounge.

Hoogstraten said many of these prizes will be Mardi Gras themed, while bigger prizes will be awarded for victories.

Hall representatives will earn points for their halls by participating and winning events. Near the end of the festival, the points will be tallied and the hall with the most points will win a guitar-shaped trophy.

Carman Hall has won the trophy the last two years.

This will be third year RHA will conduct the weeklong, campus-wide event.

ROCFest will begin tonight with the Cardboard Boat Race at 5:30 at the Campus Pond, located between the softball field and the tennis courts behind the recreational center.

RHA President Jarrod Scherle said he hopes to see most of the residence halls with boats in the race.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say how much they are looking forward to the boat race,” Scherle said.

Hoogstraten said she has received many team applications for the various events and thinks this year’s attendance should be high.

“I’m hoping to see at least 300 different people participate in the different activities this year,” Hoogstraten said. “A lot of people are excited about ROCFest.”

She said students who have not signed up to participate in events can still do so at the event they want to take part in, though she suggested people do sign-up in advance in order to secure a spot.

Fact Box:

Schedule of events for ROCFest this week.

Cardboard Boat Race 5:30 p.m. Monday Campus Pond

South Quad Olympics 5:30 p.m. Tuesday South Quad

RHA Kickball 5:30 p.m. Wednesday South Quad

RHA Group Dinner after RHA meeting Thursday Stevenson Hall

Guitar Hero/Dance Dance Revolution Tournament 7 p.m. Friday Andrews Hall basement

Photo Scavenger Hunt 1 p.m. Saturday Stevenson Hall

Masquerade Ball 7-10 p.m. Saturday Pemberton Hall Piano Lounge