On Friday, Nov. 2, Student Life hosted the Monster Mash Halloween event in the Student Life Programming Rooms and Wedge Lounges from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Every year, Student Life hosts a Halloween event with myriad events for students, such as a candy walk and a concert. This year, Student Life Coordinator Anthony Hernandez worked with on-campus offices and student organizations to add and modify events.
“Program Board brought in the escape rooms,” he said. “We actually contracted them out this year, so they were bigger, better, more complex and they took longer to complete.”
Program Board also hosted a concert along with NextGen to end the evening. Concert attendees were entered to win a Nintendo Switch. “(Program Board brought) in the band Last Night Saved My Life,” Hernandez said. “That’s pretty cool because the leader of the band is Riley Hupfer, the head of The Center of Community Engagement.”
Planning for the event had been going on all semester.
“Talks of the Halloween event have floated around since the beginning of the year,” Hernandez said. “We’ve had a decent idea of what we want to do, as far as what organizations can bring to the table. Student Life is really just there to make sure the event goes well, to give an area for students to come out and connect on campus and meet new people doing some of these awesome events.”
Several activities were available throughout the evening. The Residential Housing Association hosted the “Cookies, Cupcakes, Conspiracies, Oh My!” event in Wedge Lounge Two, where students talked about conspiracy theories and ate cupcakes and cookies.
Valley Nights hosted a candy walk and Virtual Reality in the rotunda.
The Latino Awareness Association even set up an “ofrenda,” a traditional Day of the Dead display.
Forever Red held a costume contest. Winners received prizes and were introduced on stage at the end of the night. The categories were most scary, most creative, most funny and best couple costume.
The most popular events of the night were the two escape rooms. One was themed after a zombie apocalypse, and the other after a world of wizardry. Groups had to register ahead of time to ensure a play time.
“Personally, for me, I love the complexity of (escape rooms),” Hernandez said. “It’s a fun event, but it’s also a bonding exercise, like team building, and you have to strategize with people, some people you don’t even know . … Some on-campus offices even came in for bonding.”
The first group of the night played in the zombie apocalypse room and found the room very difficult.
“I had never done an escape room before,” said graphic design freshman JaCarri Mahan. “The decorations were cool, though. I liked the fake blood spewed everywhere. We didn’t win, but T would do one again.”
Hernandez hoped that students who attended will get more involved on campus after seeing what organizations and Student Life have to offer.
“The Halloween events are a collaborative effort to get students out to events on weekends, which is great, as well as informing students to go out and vote on Nov. 6,” he said. “With Riley being in the position he is and with being in the band, it puts him in a great position to encourage students to get engaged via the big election on Nov. 6.”
