Monday kicked off the start of a busy week for Murray State when the Campus Activities Board (CAB) held its annual Murray Madness event.
Jeanie Morgan, coordinator of student activities at Murray State, said Murray Madness has been a longtime tradition at Murray State. She said CAB has put on the event for the past 15 years.
“It started an hour after the (Student Government) voting opened up on myGate,” she said. “It’s always a fun event for students.”
Erin Behbehani, junior from Paducah, Ky., helped coordinate the event this year with fellow CAB member, Blake McReynolds, sophmore from Murray.
Behbehani said the event is held to get students excited about the SGA elections, remind them to vote and show pride in being a part of Murray State.
Murray Madness consists of three events held throughout the day in the Curris Center. These include face painting, a balloon artist creating different hats and various other shapes for students and the opportunity to create picture “koozies” with a custom photo of the student on them. Behbehani said the picture “koozies” was a big hit with students, with many patrons returning more than once.
The event continued Monday with students preparing snacks, s’mores and listening to live music Monday night on the Hart College lawn.
“We had over 100 people attend the events in the Curris Center, and several stayed throughout the night,” Behbehani said.
She said CAB has been planning Murray Madness for a long time to promote student votes and prepare for the exciting election week.
Murray Madness is held the Monday before All Campus Sing, in which the winners of SGA executive positions are announced amidst the performances.
Wesley Vaughn, freshman from Owensboro, Ky., said he enjoyed his first time attending Murray Madness.
“I think it’s great that (CAB) put on this event every year,” he said. “It was a fun break in my day, especially since this is the last of the semester and things are stressful.”
Vaughn said the events were different than he would have expected, but still fun and easy to take part in. He said he especially liked the variety of balloon animals the balloon artist created.
“Our campus does so many neat activities,” he said. “It’s one of the things I like most about this University.”
Behbehani said this is her first year as the innovative acts chair and she plans all of the “free giveaway” events held throughout the semester.
Behbehani also said she and another CAB member attended the National Association of Campus Activities in North Carolina where they found many ideas for future events.
CAB not only puts on events for the SGA elections, but also has a hand in a variety of other activities. It is responsible for bringing many concerts and other widely enjoyed entertainment to Murray State.
Behbehani said she has greatly enjoyed working with CAB over the past semester.
“We always need people to help with these events,” she said. “I would encourage anyone to get involved with us.”
For more information on CAB, contact Jeanie Morgan at gmorgan@murraystate.edu.