On Monday, Eastern hosted a Homecoming Kickoff event. The event was held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the Library Quad.  

Students, faculty, staff and alum were invited to join. There was free food, prizes, inflatables and giveaways at the event. There were t-shirts available for purchase and a disk jockey set up for music.  

Promise Anderson, a senior majoring in business management, was present at the event and talked about her reasoning for coming to the event.  

“I love being involved in the school, especially during homecoming week,” Anderson said. “I feel like the vibes are always good, there’s always stuff to do, free food, great vibes, so that’s why I come out.” 

Anderson also talked about this being her last year and it being memorable, as well as coming out of the pandemic and trying to come back to more “normals.”  

“[This] definitely is a memorable year,” Anderson said. “So much stuff has been happening, especially after COVID. I feel like everybody is trying to get back into the norms, so I feel like Eastern has really been trying to create a better student life, and I feel like this is a great start.” 

Maya Walton, a senior majoring in exercise science, was present at the event, and talked about how she felt about it. 

“I am having a good time,” Walton said. “I’ve been in my room doing homework, so it’s nice to get outside and actually do some activities.” 

“I like to see the smiling faces and everybody is just having fun,” Walton said. “Even though it’s not much to do right now, it’s still nice to see everyone is coming out to have just a tad bit of fun.” 

Raiven Jones, a senior majoring in biochemistry, intends on returning to the homecoming events despite being a senior. 

“Oh yes, I am a firm believer of attend everything,” Jones said. “Ever since my freshman year I go to all the EIU sponsored events. Obviously sometimes I can’t make everything due to class schedules or work, but I’m definitely at every event that we sponsor, and I’m showing out and representing my EIU.” 

Walton talks about the improvement that she saw at the kickoff and how it can impact students. 

“Just seeing the music, that’s new,” Jones said. “I feel like we never really have music actually at our event, it’s more just people socializing, so to actually have music bringing us all together is great. And then also this is just in the middle of campus during the day so other people can see you and see that you’re having fun so that it makes them want to have fun as well.”  

Groups of parents and students were touring the campus with members of the admissions office to get a feel of where they would want to go to school. Jones encouraged the act and had positive things to say about it.  

“Yes I noticed [people] walking around doing the tour,” Jones said. “That’s even great because now they see that we have something here at Eastern that can make them feel involved and included and socialize and meet other people on campus.”

Cam’ron Hardy can be reached at 581-2812 or at cahardy@eiu.edu.