The Resident Hall Association is hoping to re-establish ties between the residents for the spring semester during Kids and Friends Weekend today and Saturday.

Families have been invited to campus for the weekend to take part in the activities the RHA has planned for the children. While hosting the families, the RHA will also compete for points for the weekend with winners being announced at the next meeting.

Nina Coletta, a junior psychology major and a member of the RHA, said in the fall semester Roc Fest stands out as a way for the halls to bond, and in the past this same experience was missing in the spring semester.

“Since last semester, we have had a lot of new members,” Coletta said. “We really hope that with this event they can find the same bond the members in the fall had.”

The committee for the weekend, led by Samantha Gusich, a senior sociology major, has been planning since September, when they started brainstorming about the theme, which the committee narrowed between Toy Story and Dr. Suess to present to the RHA. Ultimately the group chose “Dr. Suess; All the Places You’ll Go.”

All of the halls were assigned different themes, which they have painted their windows according to the given theme.

“They have used any Dr. Suess book you can think of,” Gusich said.

Grace Gustafson, a freshman English major and member of the committee, said a lot the work was done with planning and deciding on a theme.

“It was a bit time consuming but it will be worth it to see the kids have fun,” Gustafson said.

Weller Hall, Coletta’s residence hall, was given the book Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!

The RHA representatives brought the theme back to the hall and in Weller Hall’s case they formed a window painting committee.

“We checked the book out, brainstormed then the committee painted the windows,” Coletta said.

The points for the weekend are based on an objective scale, and the judges for the window painting will be the visiting parents.

The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. Friday in the Lawson Hall basement for dinner and a movie.

“We will be watching ‘Horton Hears a Who’ and eating pizza, and of course we’ll have popcorn,” Gusich said.

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-2812 or kzyskowski@eiu.edu.