Students at Southern Utah University were able to participate in The Scream, a well-loved Halloween student event, despite complications due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has made this school year different in many ways, including causing changes to student events. Each October the university’s Student Programming Board hosts an event titled The Scream that involves dancing, games, a spook alley and other Halloween activities.
SPB event directors wanted to preserve as many of the usual activities as possible, while ensuring that transmissions of COVID-19 would be kept under control.
“My team actually started planning The Scream in August, and back at that time we had a completely different plan of how it was going to work,” said Eliza Reeve, an event director for SPB. “As we got more updates we had to keep adjusting.”
One of these adjustments Reeve and her team made was to spread the event from one evening to span across the entire week. Each day leading up to Halloween there were single events that students could attend, helping to keep the group sizes smaller and lines shorter.
Reeve noted that students were forgiving of the unusual adjustments to the event.
“I think that given the circumstances, a lot of students were expecting nothing, and the fact that we were able to give them at least part of the normal experience was well received,” she said. “Overall, most students would have preferred things back to normal, but a lot of students had fun and made the most of it.”
The Scream this year was themed after the popular TV show “Stranger Things.” Following the theme, one of the week’s activities was an ’80s day, where students were encouraged to dress in styles patterned after the ‘80s.
“This is so cute,” one student commented on SPB’s Instagram post about the event. “I cannot wait to wear my ‘80s outfit.”
SPB event directors were pleased with the outcome of The Scream, despite the extra effort and unusual changes required.
“It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun,” Reeve explained. “It was really cool to see the events come to life, and to see people come and have fun.”
Story by Summer Smith
life@suunews.net
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
