By EMELY ARROYO
Pioneers, missionaries, Biblical heroes and the courageous lion from The Wizard of Oz are a few of the many decorations adorning the residence halls this week.
Residents covered the hall windows and doors with vividly depicted, well known Biblical stories and fairy tales illustrating the theme: Courage Then, Courage Now. The Homecoming tradition of dorm decorating evoked a sense of spirit and pride in many of the students who helped transform their hall with tempera paint and construction paper.
“Decorating our hall helped us get hyped up for Saturday’s game. It was a good way to show school spirit and just have some fun,” said Ram Rodriguez from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in electrical engineering. “We decorated to show school spirit and promote unity. The best part was seeing all the guys do a good job,” said Resident Assistant Tony Portera, a sophomore from Orange County, Calif. majoring in accounting.
Rodriguez said the theme helped their hall take on a spiritual approach. “We had fun painting the windows with courageous leaders found in the standard works like Noah, Nephi, David and the 2,000 stripling warriors.”
“Some of the window art shows real artistic talent (referring to a scene of Jesus walking on the water), while others were more simple. Yet, whoever thought you could illustrate so much emotion using sponge brushes and tempera paint,” Portera said.
A few bonuses for students included being able to express their creativity and make new friends. “You can’t show creativity in your classes, so decorating allows you to release your creativity. It also allows you to meet the people in the whole hall as opposed to just those on your floor. Overall, we are having a party… not concentrating on winning but on having a good time and enjoying ourselves,” said Wendy Ross, a freshman from Federal Way, Wash., majoring in statistics.
Other students expressed a different way of thinking. “I really don’t like Homecoming, but I like decorating, especially the time we spend bonding with friends. Decorating is also a great excuse to get out of doing homework,” said Terra Stapleton from Springfield, Ohio, majoring in elementary education.
Overall, this Homecoming tradition seemed to positively affect students. “We met our goals of getting girls involved, promoting school spirit and creating a fun atmosphere. If we win, we will be excited because we know we invested a lot of time and effort but if we lose, we know we had fun losing. I learned Homecoming can be really stressful because it takes a lot of time, effort and late nights to decorate,” said Candi Hawkins, T-Hall president, a freshman from Boise,Idaho, majoring in psychology.
However, there were a few regrets. “Our only regret was that we didn’t have enough space to draw more,” Rodriguez said.
“I just hope we have enough time to get it all done,” Hawkins said.
The winner of the hall decorating contest will receive a complimentary pizza party.
