NAACP had its final event for NAACP Week, hosting a Halloween-themed karaoke night in 7th Street Underground on Friday night.

NAACP’s week of events included fundraisers, an informational event on the importance of voting and a movie night. The week of events was hosted to help people learn more about the organization and bring students together.

Kayla Crowder, a senior political science student, is NAACP’s vice president. She said that “this week has been great.”

“I feel like NAACP has worked really hard to let the campus know that we are here and that we’re active, that we’re open to new faces, and that we’re excited to keep the semester pushing,” Crowder said.

Aaliyah James, a junior human resource management student, is NAACP’s president. She said that the organization decided to end the week with a karaoke night because they “wanted to end it off an a nice, social, fun note.”

The night saw nearly thirty Eastern students, many who attended the event in costumes and came prepared to sing their favorite songs.

Morticia Addams from “The Addams Family” sang “Oogie Boogie’s Song” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” an angel sang “Halo” by Beyoncé, Daphne sang “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner, all of them and more could be found singing and dancing on stage.

James said she was happy with the turnout and that students felt comfortable singing on stage. She said that she thinks the beauty in karaoke nights is that since “we’re not professional singers, we add that little flair as we go.”

“I’m happy that people can get out of their shell and actually feel free to sing exactly as how they are, because I know I’m not a good singer and I still got up there,” James said. “I feel like singing is also a form of self-care, so I think this is a very important event to have just to let people let go.”

This was not just a night of singing and dancing for Eastern students, but also an opportunity to celebrate Halloween, showing off their costumes and participating in the costume contest NAACP held.

Emilio Zarate, a junior finance student, won the costume contest, wearing a Darth Vader costume. He said that he has always been a big Star Wars fan, so he was “honestly pretty proud” he won the contest.

“I’ve been working on this costume for a while, piece by piece just ordering [these pieces of the costume],” Zarate said. “All these different pieces of the costume are from different years. I’ve had different Darth Vader costumes over the years, and I’ve been taking the best pieces of each to assemble the one I currently have.”

Zarate not only won the costume contest, but he also went up on stage and sang “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic.

“I’ve always wanted to learn singing and I practiced a little bit over the summer,” he said. “I thought this would be a good opportunity to get comfortable with it.”

Zarate said that not only did he enjoy performing himself, but he also enjoyed watching his friends perform. He said that he enjoyed the event and hopes to see more events like this one in the future, encouraging fellow Eastern students to attend school events as well.

“Get involved,” Zarate said. “If you’re kind of on the fence about something, go because you’re gonna have a good time. And if you don’t, the worst that can happen is it just wasn’t the right fit.”

Crowder said that the karaoke night was about bringing students together to celebrate.

“I know for me, October is a very busy month, I feel like for a lot of college students too, so just remind everybody to get out there and make sure you let loose and feel comfortable with your peers on campus,” Crowder said. “I feel like [the karaoke night has] been a good environment for everyone to be themselves and sing songs.”

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez can be reached at 581-2812 or at knmoralesrodriguez@eiu.edu.