Following the success of last year’s event, Albion College is hosting another Halloween Spooktacular for the community. The event aims to bring the Albion community and the college together, as children from the town will partake in activities with students and staff before going trick-or-treating on a designated route through campus.
Brit’s Halloween Spooktacular is a student run-event that will take place today from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Children and their parents will meet up in Upper Baldwin before going in groups led by students involved in Greek life to trick-or-treat. Campus organizations, Greek life, athletic teams and other student volunteers will be passing out candy along the route.
The college is aiming to emulate the success from last year and make it an even bigger event. Jonathon Collier, assistant director of Greek life and student organizations, was involved in overseeing and helping the students run the event both years.
“We think last year about 500 kids, around 700 total people, [were] here for it,” Collier said.
The growth of participants also highlights this success and showcases the desire for Albion College to become more involved with the Albion community.
“This success was aided by the collaboration of the Albion College student groups who put last year we had all 12 Greek groups participate and about 10 to 12 other campus departments like admissions,” Collier said. “This year I think we are looking at 28 groups total between student organizations, Union Board [and] Greek groups.”
Mariah Phelps, Lawton junior, was involved in the planning of the Spooktacular this year. She helped advertise the event, and contacted faculty and organizations to get them to participate.
“The fact that we increased it is really indicative of how big of an impact it made last year and how happy we are that it is continuing this year,” Phelps said.
All the volunteers, student organizations, and Greek life have been working to enlarge the event since last year. As a result, the event this year will include more activities for the children, more decorations, and more Halloween spirit. In addition to the trick-or-treating aspect, children will participate in activities such as bag or cookie decorating.
Also, the Spooktacular has a new event planned for this year: a house decorating contest. There will be a total of two winners, one from each category: the best decorated Greek house and the best non-Greek organization house. The winner will receive the golden pumpkin award.
“It will really, we think, encourage people to get into the Halloween spirit and make it more fun for the kids,” Phelps said.
Events like the Spooktacular strengthen the relationship between the city of Albion and the college as students can become more involved within the Albion community. “[It] motivates the city and the people in it to feel more welcome on this campus,” Phelps said.
Leave a Reply