Students had the chance to test their luck and hopefully win big as Eastern hosted a Casino Night at the Martin Luther King University Union in the University Ballroom Thursday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The event was held by the Homecoming Committee with volunteers from Student Government also helping out.
This student-ran Casino Night had been in the works since March and Homecoming Committee member and senior biological sciences major, Malak Mahlaoui said she was finally happy to see their plans come to fruition.
“I’m very excited this is finally here,” Mahlaoui said. “I feel like I spent so much time planning and I’m so excited that there was a great turnout of people who were actually interested in volunteering.”
These volunteers acted as dealers and educators at the same time, teaching people the basics of blackjack and poker. According to Mahlaoui, the volunteers themselves had to learn various casino games and were also excited to teach students.
“They’ve never really played a casino,” Mahlaoui said. “So, we’re kind of excited to learn how to play like casino games, shuffle cards, stuff like that. So, I’m glad it’s also a learning experience while also being like a fun experience, you know, just letting loose during homecoming week.”
One of these volunteers is junior mathematics teacher education major Anthony Doughty, who is not in the organizations that were putting the events together. Doughty said he, like others who helped with the Casino Night, found it to be a learning experience.
“I had a friend reach out and he asked for people that needed help with the events,” Doughty said. “So, I already played poker and I already know how to do just poker. So, they taught me different games to play too so it was fun.”
According to Doughty, homecoming week events have been a good way to destress as midterm week approaches.
“I think it’s much needed, especially during a stressful time like midterms,” Doughty said. “It’s a great way, you know, to take some stress off your shoulders and kind of relax and have a good time.”
Alex Krug, a senior digital media technology major, said he appreciated the amount of people from different grades and majors enjoying the night.
“It’s nice to see all these people come together from different majors, full-time, part-time students coming together and see people you don’t normally see,” Krug said. “Even though you don’t interact with them on a day-to-day basis, you interact with them here.”
The university hosting these events throughout Homecoming Week creates a sense of togetherness within the students, said Krug.
“It makes it feel like a community, not just a school,” said Krug. “So, it makes it feel like, you know, people want to be here, people are happy to be here, not just because they’re here to get a degree and then leave.”
Homecoming festivities scheduled for the rest of the week is the block party pep rally on Friday night at 7 p.m. On Saturday, a parade will kick off the day at 9:30 a.m. with a tailgate to follow at 11:00 a.m. before Eastern’s football team will play Tennessee-Martin at 2 p.m. on O’Brien Field.
Drew Coffey can be reached at 581-2812 or at akcoffey@eiu.edu.
