Community members have the chance to see what talents students have on campus at African Night at the Apollo talent show Thursday October 1st in the Grand Ballroom.

The African Student Association will be putting on the talent show 7 p.m. inside the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The talent show will include spoken word, singing, tap dance, and even an original monologue.

Doors open at 6:30, and tickets will cost $3 per person. Everyone in attendance may bring a canned food item to donate and only pay $2.

The show will have 14 different acts, including some on-campus performance groups, such as R&X dance team and the Couture models. The other 12 acts will be individual performances.

This year the talent show will not only consist of Eastern students, but also a rap performance by a Charleston resident.

Marcus Curtis, a senior journalism major, and Keyana Lee, a junior biology major are hosting the show this year

Oct. 1 is also the Nigerian Independence day, which the ASA will be celebrating directly after the talents show ends.

Jalen Washington, ASA special events coordinator, will be holding a social after the show on 11^th street. The address and specific details will be handed out in a flyer while entering the show.

The night will end around 9:30 p.m. and audience members may then attend the social.

Washington said he is also hoping to get people to come out to the event and get ASA more known and involved on campus.

“We’re really trying to bring back a stronger ASA to Eastern’s campus, but this time around we want it to be much more diverse and get plenty of people involved. So come on down, it’ll be a great time,” Washington said.

Washington said the ASA has a word, “joofen,” they commonly use, which is an African word that means family.

“We’d love to have more people join our joofen and become a part of the family that we are working to build stronger,” Washington said.

Washington said if students are interested in becoming a part of the ASA, or are simply curious about what the organization does, ASA offers an open invitation to the general body meetings, which are held every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Oakland room in the Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union.

Cheyenne Fitzgerald can be reached at 581-2812 or cmfitzgerald@eiu.edu