Committee to chose Vegas-themed title for Homecoming Tuesday
For the 2010 Homecoming, students will be able to pull an Elvis and “Viva Las Vegas.”
Las Vegas was picked as the theme for Homecoming, which will take place Oct. 25 to 23.
The Homecoming committee is still polling students through Facebook on what the official name should be.
The three names to chose from are “EIU Hits the Jackpot,” “EIU Bets on Blue” and “Eastern’s All In.”
Kristen Bushing, Homecoming chair elect for the University Board, said the Las Vegas theme got a lot of positive feedback from students and the Homecoming committee.
Bushing said the committee picks the theme by brainstorming, tossing around ideas and looking at previous themes so that there are no repeats from previous years.
“We will all brainstorm ideas, and it really is a group effort,” Bushing said.
Alyssa Anderson, the Homecoming chair for the University Board, said the committee also needs to make sure the theme has possible sub-themes and that the theme is fun and school-spirited, without being disrespectful.
Past themes have been “Back to Blue,” “Rock ‘n Roll, Pop ‘n Soul,” “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s EIU,” and “The Good, The Bad, The 80’s.”
Anderson said the committee needs to decide on a theme early, because a lot goes into planning Homecoming.
“Rather than doing it six weeks before, when school starts, we need to plan ahead,” Anderson said.
Bushing agreed and said the sooner the committee gets started on planning, the better off they are down the road, because they have to collaborate with a lot of people for the event.
She said the committee still needs to decide on a logo for T-shirts, get spirit shirts, get the Homecoming committee prepped and motivated, as well as find a charity associated with the theme.
Bushing said the theme needs to be decided to get these other plans accomplished.
JoyAnna Hopper, secretary for the Homecoming committee, said the committee as a whole came up with the theme by voting and weeding out certain themes not broad enough to interest a great amount of Eastern students.
The theme name will be finalized Tuesday.
“We are about pleasing students and getting student feedback,” Bushing said.
Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942
