As the night turns dark and the wind cools down, screams and laughter begins to arise from the lower campus. Every year around the time of Halloween, the prefect council and peer advisors organize events to host on campus to spread the holiday spirit.  

This year, the dorm prefect council organized the Halloween haunted house in the Old School House. This event was led by a joint dorm and day student prefect Halloween committee that included Lucy Troendle (‘26), Kaitlyn Wanland (‘26), Anna Park (‘26) and Sophie Lin (‘26). In this committee, prefects planned the outline and theme of the haunted house that they introduced to the rest of the dorm council.  

“As far as the theme, it took a lot of discussion and arguing in order to pick a cohesive theme that made sense, but I think in the end it has worked out,” Lucy said. 

Agreeing on the theme of the haunted house didn’t come easy; yet, after thorough discussions, collective ideas for this event began to form.  

“This year we thought of the idea of family, so we decided to do the Addams family, we picked Old School House because we wanted to do a self-guided tour and based off its features, the Old School House is not a big or small building,” said Jacky Qi (‘25), co-chair of the dorm prefect council.  

To ensure effective development of the haunted house, prefects came together to brainstorm prop ideas, which volunteer prefect created during the weekends from select props found in South Hutch.  

“There’s lots of work that went into it, and it was led by the haunted house board, who put together plans for the rest of the prefect council,” said Jacky. “We put in a lot of work as prefects to ensure it’s a fun experience for all.”  

In continuation to the annual day student prefect socials, the day student prefects hosted the DSP Fall Social in Stockdale on November 1st. The planning of this event began in late September when a general Halloween-Autunm theme and organizing committee groups were decided.  

“We also begin to communicate with faculty and staff, submitting work orders or buying supplies on Amazon to make the setup process easier,” said Lindsey Azurin (‘25), head day student prefect. “However, with this year’s Fall Social, we’ve decided to host it alongside the dorm prefect’s haunted house. This added a few changes to the process.” 

The DSP committee joined the dorm prefect Halloween committee to assign roles of prefects helping out in the Fall Social and the haunted house. Additionally, both groups selected activities and snacks. 

To assist these groups with supplies, Leah Moore, day student prefect advisor and Dr. Ardina Greco, prefect council advisor, worked with prefects throughout the planning process. 

“We work really hard on these socials, planning them sometimes a month in advance,” said Lindsey. “Because we really only meet once or twice a week, we do our best to get as much done as possible through every meeting.”  

Zombie apocalypse came first in the evening. Planning for this event began at the start of October. During their weekly Monday meetings, head peer advisors assigned PAs to stations, where they were responsible for creating the clues of that location and sharing them with the whole group. Further, peer advisors worked closely together as a group to brainstorm logistics for costumes, decorations, and costs.  

“We always use leftover props; if not, we discuss props during our PA meetings and we ask Mr. Vos if it’s reasonable for our budget,” said Jarra Jallow (‘25), head peer advisor.  

Peer advisors worked together to create posters placed around campus and social media advertisements to help with publicity.  

“Zombie apocalypse is one way for peer advisors to organize a community-building event for all students,” Jarra said.  

Whether students celebrate it or not, Halloween is a day when student leaders can bring the community together through costumes, candies, and joy.