After 20 years, Eastern is hosting the Illinois Residence Hall Association conference, which brings together about 250 college students from universities throughout Illinois.

Events for IRHA begin at 7 p.m. today with Eastern alumni John Biernbuam, class of ’92, as the visiting key speaker of the evening.

Karla Browning, co-chair of the IRHA committee and senior family and consumer sciences major, said IRHA is an opportunity for students to expand their leadership skills while on a college campus.

“It’s also a time to recognize schools for their hard work since the last IRHA Conference,” Browning said.

Browning said there will be 18 colleges in attendance at this year’s IRHA annual conference.

Biernbuam said IRHA has been around for 40 or 50 years and he has attended IRHA in previous years.

“I’m going to talk to them about what it means to be involved in student organizations,” Biernbuam said. “I’m going to talk about my experience in RHA and being a student leader and what that means.”

Browning said Biernbuam was chosen by the IRHA committee because of his involvement as president in the Residence Hall Association and the National Residence Hall Honorary.

Other speakers at the event will be President Bill Perry, Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, and Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining.

“The theme for the weekend focuses around superheroes, ‘Students by day, Leaders by night, Unleash the leader within!'” Browning said.

Hudson is another key speaker at the weekend’s events and said IRHA conferences include both private and public universities.

Hudson will be giving the welcoming message to Eastern students and visiting delegates to the university.

“The purpose of IRHA is to have RHA members from all over the state to come together to share ideas and be motivated,” Hudson said.

Friday’s events, which will take place in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, includes a superhero movie, bowling and arcade games. There will also be performances by Lunchbox Voodoo and a ballroom dance for Eastern students and visiting schools.

Saturday’s events will be moved to Coleman Hall and will be the busiest conference day.

“Each delegate will get a chance to attend four programs, plus one Top 10 Program,” Browning said. “These programs are put on by schools attending and focus around the categories of personal development, community service, educational, and social justice and diversity.”

Eastern, although it is the hosting school, will have its own delegation represented at the event.

“The students from all over the state help present programs at the conference.” Biernbuam said.

Between noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, the IRHA participants will have a luncheon at the Tower Dining Center in Stevenson.

A closing banquet will finish off the evening with Illinois awards, including best school, best student and many more.

“The really great thing is that this conference has been put on by volunteer resident hall leaders who have spent more than a year working through the details, working as a team towards this big project, which is all leadership development in itself,” Hudson said.

Jennifer Brown can be reached at 581-2812 or jebrown@eiu.edu.