When trying to come up with this year’s homecoming theme, Eastern’s homecoming board has hit the jackpot. The theme this year is “EIU Bets on Blue.”

“We are going to be playing off the Las Vegas-type fun shows and the overall Vegas atmosphere,” said Kendall Jackson, a junior and Homecoming Chair.

The week’s events will kick off on Monday, Oct.18 with the “Casino Royale” coronation ceremony. Tuesday’s activities will include “Luck of the Draw” T-shirt swap, the Bleed Blue blood drive and Dodge for Dimes.

Wednesday, students can attend “Lucky Lanes” bowling, along with the “Panthers Rock Cafe” campus picnic and fashion show. Thursday will be the Up All Night “Full House Always Wins!” Friday will include the “In It to Win It” march down, “Yell Like Hell” and pep rally will take place.

The celebratory events will conclude on Saturday with the “Viva La Panther” pancake breakfast, a 2.5K race and parade, the Kick-Off and tailgating and the football game where the Panthers will take on Murray State.

Chair-Elect Nike Ogunbodede will assist Jackson. Together they oversee the subcommittees: activities, elections, coronation, Panther Pride, kickoff, parade, publicity and community relations.

“We both work together hand-in-hand,” Jackson said. “We make sure the committees do what they have to do to make homecoming run smoothly,” he said.

To put on homecoming, funds are needed.

To obtain these funds, the homecoming board must go to apportionment board, which Jackson said awards funds based on last year’s costs.

The homecoming board will also be selling spirit shirts to the campus and the community for $5 each to help supplement the budget.

Preparing for this year’s homecoming was a challenge for the board because they have been working with an incomplete staff; however, many people have recently shown interest.

Jackson went through applications and did a series of interviews looking to add more people to the board.

Jackson is still actively seeking help, though.

“Every position could use some filling,” Jackson said. “We are always looking to get more people.”

Since the board has such a short staff, Alyssa Anderson, a senior and first year vice chair for University Board, said everyone is pitching in all areas of preparation.

“We have a strong committee members that can multitask,” she said. “They can work in every aspect of homecoming.”

The board will also be receiving assistance from the Greek organizations on campus. Each fraternity or sorority will run an activity centralized around the Las Vegas theme.

They will receive points for working these events, and these points will be tallied at the end of homecoming.

Despite having a shortened staff, the board is not behind schedule because they have had plenty of time to prepare.

“We start planning in spring semester of the year before,” Anderson said. “Because there are many events in one week, planning this far in advance is so helpful. It takes a lot of stress off in the fall.”

Even with the months of preparation, the weeks leading up to homecoming still prove to be stressful for the board.

“We understand that it’s crunch time and that we need to pick up the slack. The graduates and student life office are a huge help, though,” Jackson said.

Still, homecoming is a fun time for everyone, especially for the people running the event.

Krystina Lamorte, a junior and first year Chair of University Board, especially enjoys helping with the planning. “(I like) coming up with the theme and seeing how it’s all going to piece together.

Getting centralized this year around the Las Vegas theme is very cool.”

Ultimately the board has high hopes for this year’s homecoming. Lamorte said she hopes to see school spirit and campus unity.

“I hope that everyone comes out to at least one or two events, especially going to the homecoming game,” Jackson said. “It gets the football team excited. (I hope) students partake in these events because the

team needs our support.”

Sara Hall can be reach

at 581-7943

or smhall3@eiu.edu.