Students and parents danced in the aisles of the University Ball Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union as a part of Bingo Friday night.

Freshman Bridget Shanahan, a communication disorder sciences and theater major, was one of these students.

Shanahan and her sister Meg won T-shirts for dancing during the breaks.

Shanahan’s family traveled from Chicago to take part in her first Family Weekend and said they enjoyed the different take on bingo offered by the games’ presenters.

John Shanahan, Bridgets’ father, said he especially liked the announcers’ enthusiasm when it came to audience participation and excitement.

“They really got the audience into it,” John said.

Sophomore Andrew Hubbard, a corporate communications major, and graduate adviser Lawrence Underwood served as emcees throughout the evening.

Hubbard said having players dance during breaks was a way to let students act like students and let parents remember what it was like to be their son’s and daughter’s age.

Hubbard hoped in this way the event would allow students and parents to feel closer and reconnect some of the ties of youth.

Hubbard, who serves as the chairman of the Special Events Committee of University Board, said audience participation is important in events like this in order to inject excitement and activity in a normally sedentary game.

“I always try to have something where the audience can actively participate in the event,” Hubbard said.

In addition to the dancing Hubbard and Underwood sought audience participation by asking questions about Easterns’ history and faculty between calling numbers.

Players who danced or answered these questions correctly were given prizes like t-shirts, CD’s and gift certificates.

For players who won bingo, the prizes included a variety of items such as Guitar Hero, a $25 BP gas card, a copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and tickets to the REO Speedwagon concert Saturday night.

More than $2,000 worth of prizes was handed out during the bingo session.

Bridget Shanahan won a printer and a DVD during the bingo games.

Her family was excited to be at Eastern for their first Family Weekend and planned on participating in most of the events.

“We bought tickets for everything,” said Bridget’s mother, Cathleen Shanahan.

A student shows off her bingo prize to family and friends during the tournament on Oct.5. The bingo tournament allowed students and their families to bond during the family weekend. Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News

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