UB impressed by student turnout at Up All Nite
Any students who were upset by their parents leaving soon forgot all about it after comedian Chad Daniels made them laugh their fears away at University Board’s event, Up All Nite, Friday.
“Remember when your mom was crying when she hugged you goodbye? Those were tears of joy,” Daniels joked during his performance.
Up All Nite, which took place at 8 p.m. Friday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union, had a UFO-theme featuring black lights, alien heads and the Planetarium Immersive Dimension Theater, an inflatable planetarium brought in by Kramer Entertainment.
UB provided food, video game tournaments, bingo and a disc jockey to keep students entertained.
The DJ was in the Grand Ballroom, along with a moon bounce, rollercoaster virtual reality station and a racecar simulator.
“Sometimes, you just got to have a lot of fun before getting to work,” Omar Solomon, a resident assistant in Thomas Hall said. Solomon had brought some of his residents to the event to help them get acquainted with other students.
Along with the commotion on the main floor, UB showed the recently released movie “Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay” in the Charleston/Mattoon room upstairs.
UB Movies Coordinator Ryan Kerch said he chose the movie because he “wanted something funny and silly that appealed to the college audience.”
“We hit this right tonight,” Kerch said. “This went really well.”
The turnout, especially the amount of students who saw Daniels’ performance at the 7th Street Underground, impressed Public Relations Chair Mike Carey.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Carey said about the standing-room-only attendance.
Daniels was not the first act chosen to perform at the event. Craig Robinson from the TV show “The Office” was originally going to perform, but had to cancel because of a scheduling conflict, said UB member Amy Baumgardt.
Robinson was arrested on June 29 under the suspicion of possessing MDMA, also known as ecstasy and methamphetamine. Baumgardt did not say if the arrest had anything to do with the cancellation.
The comedian was not the only reason why students enjoyed the event. Many prizes were given out, including grills, a Bluetooth headset, television show DVD sets, gift sets and video games.
The winners of the Wii, XBox 360 and Playstation 3 tournaments received the game consoles as their prize.
“This is the greatest way to start off school for all the new students,” Homecoming Elect Coordinator Otis Seawood said.
UB’s Vice Chair Sydney Stanhope was glad to see so many new students in attendance.
“It’s a positive, fun way to kick off the school year with all the activities and getting to mingle with your new fellow students,” Stanhope said.
Sarah Jean Bresnahan can be reached at 581-7942 or at sjbresnahan@eiu.edu.
UB impressed by student turnout at Up All Nite
Comedian Chad Daniels cheers as a young boy from the audience tells a joke to the crowd at 7th Street Underground for Friday night’s Up All Nite event. (Erin Matheny/The Daily Eastern News)
