Dorm residents across campus have been hard at work planning for the annual Homecoming hall decoration contest this week.

The halls will compete in three separate competitions that include banner and lobby decoration and hanging of the red. They will be judged throughout the week and the winners will be announced at 4 p.m. Monday at the weekly Residence Hall Association meeting.

The banners can be seen in Downing University Center, hanging near the staircase. Banner judging was Monday. The lobby decorations were judged Wednesday, and the hanging of the red will be judged today.

Hanging of the red is judged based on the percentage of windows in each dorm with red in them and how well residents stick to the theme.

There are five people from RHA who were appointed as judges for the competitions.

The other competitions will also be judged based on how well each hall sticks to the theme and its creativity in doing so. This year’s theme – in light of Western’s centennial celebration – is “A Century of Spirit.”

“It’s basically how well you can show your WKU spirit through your creativity,” said Frankfort junior Teri LaFontaine, a resident assistant in Minton Hall and a member of the RHA executive board.

Each dorm has a hall council that is in charge of decorations. There are at least one resident assistant and hall director to guide the council and make sure things are done according to the guidelines, but, for the most part, the council makes all the decisions.

“For our lobby, we are going to decorate one side with the past 100 years at WKU and the other side with what we think will happen to the campus in the next 100 years,” said LaFontaine, a member of Minton’s hall council.

Bragging rights aren’t the only things at stake this year. Beginning last year, there is also a 4-foot-tall wooden trophy passed to the winner. Bemis Lawrence Hall is now housing the traveling trophy.

Hall Director Lamonte Stamps, a graduate student from Louisville, is doing what he can to keep it.

“We are just trying to be creative and get the ladies of Bemis excited,” Stamps said. “We are asking for any volunteers and ideas and just trying to get the girls involved as much as possible.”

Frankfort junior Jessica Combess, vice president of RHA, said the decoration contest is a good thing for spirit across campus.

“It’s important to do the hall decoration contest to instill spirit within students,” Combess said. “It’s nice to have an excuse to go wild about WKU spirit.”

Reach Jessica Hays
at features@wkuherald.com.