Brightening up their world

For some students, a touch of creativity is a must to make their dorm rooms seem less like concrete bunkers in a prison.\nWhile most students come to their new home armed with their favorite posters and an armful of Sticky Tac, brushes and paint are the tools of the trade for a few.\nKelly Mcilhargey, a sophomore living in Read Center, became tired of her white walls and decided to paint a mural of the Care Bears and the Flintstones over her bed.\n"It livens it up a lot," Mcailhargey said, "and I like the art."\nKyler McGillicuddy, a sophomore living in Teter Quad, agrees.\n"A plain white room is too boring," McGillicuddy said. "I couldn't live with white walls for a year."\nMcGillicuddy's mural is of Japanese cartoon characters. He was walking by his resident assistant's room one day and saw paintings on the walls, so McGillicuddy asked if he could do the same thing to his walls.\nFor Mcilhargey, the project grew in scope. She thought the halls in Read-Clark Five were too boring, she said. So on the wall across from her dorm room she created a mural for the residents. It depicts the Scooby Doo characters and their method of transportation, the Mystery Machine. As a border for the mural, all the residents of Clark 5 painted signed hand prints or footprints on the wall.\nNeither McGillicuddy nor Mcilhargey are art majors: McGillicuddy is studying audio recording, and McIlhargey is an education major.\n"I sketch a lot, that's about it," McGillicuddy said.\nMcilhargey has experience with murals, though. She lived in the same room last year, where she painted South Park characters on the wall. Those are no longer there, however, because students are required at the end of the year to paint the room back to its original state.\n"If a room is not returned to an acceptable condition (and) appearance, the student involved can be charged through their Bursar account for RPS to have the room repainted," said Pam Sprong, assistant director of Residential Programs and Services. The fee is usually $100 for each student involved in the painting.\n"That sucks," said McGillicuddy. "It took me about four or five days to do this."\nMcGillicuddy and Mcilhargey are only two students who have taken to their walls with paint. In the RPS's annual Cool Room contest, there were quite a few creative spaces.\n"The judges reported that in one room everything was black," Sprong said.\nThe Cool Room contest pits residence halls students against one another for the most decorative space on campus. \nIf a student wishes to paint or do any type of permanent decorations, Sprong said he or she should remember that they need permission from their residence manager and the room must be returned to its original condition at the end of the year.