Costumes, candy, caramel apples and more: Viterbo on Halloween

Viterbo works to provide a number of opportunities for students and members of the surrounding community to become involved on campus. This is apparent around the holidays. On Oct. 25 through Nov. 1, the Student Activities Board (SAB) and other clubs and organizations organized a number of activities to celebrate spooky season.

Jose Garcia, the student engagement coordinator, spoke about how organizing Halloween Week was an exhaustive, yet rewarding process. He commended the amount of time and effort that his staff on the SAB put into making the various events successful and went on to say, “there’s a moment when you are looking around and you see all of these students laughing and enjoying it [the event], and knowing that the SAB and I had a part in making this a reality…is a very rewarding part of this position.”

The spooky season began on Oct. 25 with the Safe Trick or Treating event hosted by the education club. This event took place in the Mathy Center and a number of community members as well as students were in attendance. The education club decorated doors and had Viterbo students in their best costumes stationed at each door to interact with the trick or treaters. They handed out fistfuls of candy and facilitated a number of games for all of the children in attendance.

After the Safe Trick or Treating event, the SAB hosted some nights in the Hawks Nest where students could socialize while painting pumpkins and eating caramel apples. Jose was happy to report that these events had a great student turnout. In addition to being easy to manage, these events were ideal for students to interact and take a step away from their studies.

Then, to get in the true spirit of Halloween, the SAB organized their traditional Scariest Places on Campus Tours. These tours took place on Oct. 29 and students were able to visit various spots on campus like the costume room in the Fine Arts Center (FAC), the tunnels under the Murphy Center and the catacombs in San Damiano Chapel. These spaces, although familiar to some, were accompanied by scary stories to help establish the essence of spooky season. Students and staff who participated in the event enjoyed the experience and look forward to next year’s tours.

On Halloween day, there were a number of events hosted on campus, which included the costume contest in the Caf, the opening of the SAB’s Haunted House, and Spanish Club’s Salsa Night hosted in the main dance studio at the FAC. All had a number of participants who were eager to join in the fun.

Some of the costumes seen around campus were “Vanessa” from Disney’s “Phineas & Ferb,” a full-on vampire, a witch, “Captain Jack Sparrow” from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and many more. In addition to the creative costumes, a team of students on SAB created a haunted house. All of the acting and design elements of the haunted house were organized by students, which shows the amount of dedication that the students have towards their project.

One of the last events was the Spanish Club’s Salsa Night that took place over the course of Halloween Week. At Salsa Night students from Viterbo and UW-L were invited to eat chips and salsa and go to the dance studio to learn how to dance the salsa, bachata, merengue, and cha-cha. The students felt it was a fun way for them to interact in a different setting and celebrate in a unique way.

All the events held on campus over the course of Halloween week allowed students to see the different spaces available, celebrate the spooky season with new friends, and relax in the middle of the semester.