The Campus Activities Board sponsored Welcome Back Week to provide students a chance to interact the first week back from the holidays.

Activities included giant boxing, giant twister and a performance by a hypnotist.

“In the past there has been no welcome back week for the spring semester,” said Julie Blackford, director of student activities.

Of all the events, the most popular was hypnotist Chuck Milligan, who performed on Jan. 15. Milligan, from San Diego, Calif., has been in this profession for 15 years and performs all over the world, including traveling overseas as entertainment for U.S. military troops.

“Hypnosis is merely that twilight time between awake and asleep,” Milligan said.

He said one of the main misconceptions of hypnosis is that he is actually controlling the individual.

“I am merely an instruction giver,” Milligan said. “You have to follow the instructions; you have to go there entirely on your own.”

Casey Highland, senior criminal justice major, and Stephanie Harter, freshman music major, were two students who volunteered to be hypnotized.

“I didn’t think I would be hypnotizable,” Harter said.

“I was curious if people were just playing along,” Highland said.

Both said the entire time seemed like a dream, and they don’t remember everything.

Megan Paule, junior English major, and Tully Lale, sophomore mass communications major, both said they didn’t believe the hypnotism was real, but it was entertaining.

Blackford said CAB was pleased with the turnout of about 140 students.

“We were competing with the bad weather and the basketball game against Pittsburg State University,” Blackford said.

After viewing a hypnotist performance at a convention, CAB members thought it would be a good idea to bring one to Missouri Southern.

Blackford said Milligan had performed here in the past. After hearing that the performance had gone well, Blackford decided to book Milligan to return.

Even though Welcome Back Week is over, CAB does have other events coming up this semester. These include Valentine’s Day treats, poster contests and Spring Fling.