During the University Board’s Up All Nite party Friday, a group of students became pop stars, racecar drivers and better test takers using nothing but their imaginations and a bit of subconscious suggestion.

The night began with comedic hypnotist Rich Aimes taking the stage and announcing that he was sorry if people in the audience mistakenly heard the name “Rick James.”

Aimes, a certified hypnotist from Las Vegas who said he has hypnotized more than 10,000 people in nearly 20 years, explained to the audience how hypnotism works.

“Hypnotism is not mind control,” he said. “It is simply relaxation followed by suggestion.”

Aimes said participants would go into a trance-like state and awaken feeling like they had six to seven hours of extra sleep.

After selecting volunteers from the audience, Aimes explained that nothing bad or strange would happen during the process.

“If you feel weird at any time while you are being hypnotized, you were probably weird before you came up here,” he joked.

He told his subjects to imagine they were championship racecar drivers, ballet dancers and to dance “The Twist” when the music came on.

Aimes then had certain people lip sync and dance as if they were pop stars like Beyoncé, Jay Z, Michael Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga and Elvis Presley.

Olivia Thelen, a junior English major, was hypnotized to believe she was Lady Gaga.

She said she did not think she could really be hypnotized, but the experience felt like a “cleansing” afterward.

“I’m new here, so I’m just trying to experience all that I can,” Thelen said.

She said her favorite part of the show was when Aimes told them to point and laugh at the audience because they were all in their underwear.

Marika Rosenberger, a senior math major, watched from the audience.

She said she would not want to be hypnotized and doubted that it would work on her because she tends to be more skeptical.

“I don’t want to put my actions in somebody else’s hands,” she said.

Aimes said some people have negative opinions because they have seen “junk” on TV, but hypnotism can be both entertaining and useful.

“The fun stuff is great, but it’s also nice to know we can help people,” he said.

After his performance, Aimes offered a 10 minute session of “light hypnosis” to make students more confident when taking tests.

He said college students are his favorite people to work with.

“Colleges are the greatest audiences in the world,” he said. “They aren’t kids and they aren’t stuffy like adults.”

After Aimes’ show, students helped themselves to free T-shirts and various crafts having to do with the “Honablulu” theme.

Dominique Gilliam, a sophomore early childhood education major, took pictures wearing silly hats with her friends and decorated a pair of flip-flops.

She said she was making hers with glittery stickers and letters and would probably hang them on her wall.

“I didn’t come last year, and I couldn’t miss it for a second year in a row,” she said.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or samarkham@eiu.edu.