With a growing number of students living on campus and looking for entertainment on the weekends, George Mason University has recently put greater emphasis on providing more activities and programs. The Office of Housing and Residence Life has added more events for the Mason community to enjoy on weekends.

Residents and students alike have been offered a chance to enjoy a free live music concert series hosted by the Pilot House.

“We just really wanted a chance to be able to showcase all of the wonderful talent that we have here at Mason,” said Lauren Mauriello, the resident student program coordinator for the Office of Housing and Residence Life. “There’s a lot of talent that we can support here.”

The band Styles of Conflict, a hip-hop group based at Mason, performed at the series on Oct. 7.
“It was really great being able to perform at this event,” said junior global affairs major Ealias Fekadu, a member of Styles of Conflict. “We really enjoyed the show and being able to perform.”

Fekadu is happy that Mason is giving the opportunity for students to showcase their talent.
He admits that the show did not bring out too many people because it just recently started, but still thinks it is beneficial that Mason has established an outlet for students to perform.

“Being on stage and being able to perform what we’ve written was a great experience,” Fekadu said. “I’m hoping that there will be more chances like this.”

40Love, an R&B/pop acoustic group, performed on Friday. The series will then continue in the spring at Southside dining hall.

“We’ve never done this type of event at Southside, so that will be interesting,” Mauriello said. “We are hoping to draw a large crowd.”

Mauriello said she is hoping that even more talented students will find interest in these events.
“We’re expecting more people to come out to these events,” Mauriello said. “We are looking to build the brand.”

Housing and Residence Life is continuing to create more events for students on campus.

“We’re always looking to collaborate with students,” Mauriello said. “We always have stuff going on, and we always take inspiration from [the Resident Student Association].”

Students interested in helping to plan events and giving feedback are encouraged to join the RSA.
“We love to coordinate with other undergraduate events,” Mauriello said. “We are willing to also partner with other organizations.”

Mauriello said that there is always something going on during the weekends at Mason.

“Residence Life is always looking to plan things,” Mauriello said. “We’ve been focusing on providing events for the different neighborhoods to provide something to do for Mason students.”