The Illinois State University Student Alumni Council hosted its annual homecoming window painting event Sunday in Uptown Normal.
Six groups of students participated in painting store windows all throughout Uptown to decorate the town for ISU’s homecoming week.
The window painting event has been a tradition for over 16 years. It was originally a partnership with local businesses and shops to involve them in ISU’s homecoming festivities.
ISU students volunteer to paint windows in Uptown in preparation for ISU’s Homecoming.
To make it easier on the businesses involved, the students also clean up the painted windows after homecoming week is over.
Sophomore exercise science major Liying Brownfield explained why she decided to help paint windows.
“[I] decided to do this event because it’s a fun way to give back to our community and show our school spirit around Uptown because I know how much they support us,” said Brownfield.
One student found painting businesses’ windows as an opportunity to have fun and earn service hours at the same time.
“For community service, we need 10 service hours, and it was a good excuse to hang out with our team,” said freshman nursing major Caitlin Caserta.
In addition to community service hours, the students involved hope that seeing their work excites the community for ISU’s homecoming events.
“We hope this gets [the students] excited for homecoming,” Caserta said. “We are spreading the spirit and hopefully they show up to the game and come support.”
Freshman early childhood education major Courtney Czekala said window painting reminded her of similar events from the past.
ISU volunteers decorate the windows of Insomnia cookies in Uptown Normal in preparation for Homecoming.
“I have done events like this in high school and really enjoyed them,” Czekala said.
Several students said they enjoyed hanging out with their friends while painting the businesses’ windows in designs and colors reminiscent of ISU.
Caserta said it was a good team-bonding experience, as they attended with their gymnastics teammates.
Alumni Engagement Senior Director Stephanie Duquenne said a lot of work goes into organizing the window-painting sessions.
“Darion Effinger, [a graduate assistant for Alumni Engagement], reaches out to all of the businesses in the Bloomington-Normal community and gets permission to come out and have students paint their windows the Sunday right before homecoming weekend,” Duquenne said. “It takes months to do that and to organize it all.”
“It is an easy lift for [the businesses] because they just have to say yes, and it looks good in the community to celebrate Redbird spirit,” Duquenne continued.
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