By Kurana Doobay
With the leaves starting to change from green to orange, sweater weather temperatures, photo shoots in pumpkin patches, scary movie marathons on TV and Halloween decorations popping up everywhere, how is Adelphi setting up to celebrate the spooky season?
With about 1,100 total students living in Adelphi’s seven residents halls, the Resident Student Association (RSA) is putting in their best efforts to create an environment where campus feels like a home away from home, especially with the upcoming holiday season. Instead of going through the struggle of online research and traveling to visit a haunted house, stay on campus on Friday, Oct. 29 to celebrate Adelphi’s biggest Halloween event: Haunted Halls.
Marissa Barba, a junior nursing major and vice president of RSA, said that Haunted Halls is an annual event previously hosted in Chapman Hall by their hall council that hasn’t been implemented since 2019 because of Covid.
“RSA is working with Kappa Pi, Chapman’s Hall council and Earle’s Hall council to bring it back to campus on Halloween Weekend,” she said. “We are coordinating with the hall councils to have more programs around campus happen in coordination with Haunted Halls that day.”
Taking place starting at 7 pm until 10 pm, Adelphi’s Haunted Halls event is not your typical haunted house with predictable costumes and basic yellow caution tape decorations.
“The program is essentially transforming a resident hall into an interactive Haunted House for a couple hours for all the students on campus to enjoy,” Barba said. “In previous years we had themes, like `American Horror Story’ for this event, so our theme for this year is `Stranger Things.’”
She added, “Earle's Hall council is in charge of food and snacks as of right now, and this is the list of potential items that we gave them: `Stranger Things' themed paper plates, napkins, cups, tablecloth, individually-wrapped cookies and decade-themed candies!”
In addition, within each of the seven residence halls, the hall councils will be hosting their own events, including a giveaway and a costume competition.
The RSA is keeping safety in mind. Barba said, “Covid protocols will be in place. We will have individually-wrapped food and snack items, and when entering the haunted house portion of our event, people will be sent in intervals with the group they came with only. We will not be having people congregating indoors too much. We will be having people on the Quad lawn outside for our side entertainment. We also take faith in Adelphi's safety precautions that they have put in place with encouraging students to be vaccinated. We will only be allowing Adelphi students into this event to prevent exposure off-campus.”
Students from previous years are looking forward to celebrating the event once again.
Miguel Velasquez, a junior history major and Waldo Hall resident assistant, said, “I remember doing a giveaway for Haunted Halls through the Student Activities Board back in fall 2019. It was really fun seeing everyone walk through Chapman Hall and talk about the jump scares/decorations in the hall. Students still talk about those decorations to this day. I am very excited to see how they will transform Earle Hall this year. This is a tradition so many of us enjoy, so bringing it to life after quite some time is very exciting.”
Sophomore students, like marketing major Polly Gordon, who started Adelphi in the midst of the pandemic, were not able to experience Haunted Halls last Halloween.
“Last year on campus, there was nothing going on and it was really boring,” Gordon said. “This year I’m excited to celebrate and make fun memories with my friends on campus.”
Even international students are looking forward to the event. Nina Berntzen, a sophomore communications major from Norway, said, “It seems really fun. In Norway, I didn’t have much of an experience with Halloween growing up because it isn’t a big thing, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to see what it's really like, not just how it is in the movies.”
If you don’t live on campus, don’t worry. All Adelphi students are welcome to attend. For more information on Haunted Halls and other upcoming events, sign up for RSA emails on MyAULife and follow @adelphirsa on Instagram for reminders and updates. For any additional questions or concerns, email residentstudentassociation@adelphi.edu.
Be ready to be spooked at Adelphi’s Haunted Halls!