Point Loma Nazarene University joined in on the Halloween festivities on Oct. 31 with their Goodwin Halloween Bash. Full of food, dancing, costumes, escape rooms and the occasional cricket, the Halloween extravaganza was a hit for students across campus.
The event takes place most every year, with the exception of last October. Jong Yoon, resident director of Goodwin Hall and the person in charge of this endeavor, was inspired to put on a Halloween dance for students annually to give them a reason to stay on campus on a night that is historically one of the most dangerous for college students. Rather than just telling students to be careful, the goal is to create a place for students to have fun on campus.
A month and a half of preparation was put into planning the details. This year, the preparation was equally shared with the associated student body, especially under the guidance of Tori Dearden, the ASB director of activities and marketing.
“There is no way just res life could put it on,” said Yoon.
Seven different committees were created to oversee the music, food, decor and logistics— most of which were run by resident assistants from Goodwin, Finch, Wiley and Klassen halls. Yoon also incorporated volunteers with the intention of making sure every student had the chance to get on the dance floor.
“The dance floor was poppin,” said third year Goodwin RA Mackenna Marshall, who started to help set up for the event at 3 p.m.
In addition to the preparation put into the food, events and decor, the music choices of the night played a large role in the overall success.
The first portion of the night in the upper Goodwin parking lot was provided with background music from a PLNU band called “Tuxedo Cake.” It then ended with a dance in the main courtyard of Goodwin, which Bryce Zuniga DJ’d for.
The event truly did incorporate a large portion of the PLNU community. The food consisted of hot dogs and burgers by “The Wiley Boys Grillin and Chillin,” a vegan churro truck, mini pies from ASB and a mocktail bar with drinks served by Yoon himself.
“Any chance to make fun of college students I take,” said Yoon.
As such, he named the drinks: “The Season of Singleness,” “The Infamous DTR,” “The Ring by Spring,” and “The Down Bad,” in order to poke fun at students’ dating ideas.
Jonah Del Fiorentino, third year RA in Goodwin, was pleasantly surprised when 500 students showed up in comparison to the expected 300. Most students came dressed in a costume. To give incentive to dress up, a costume contest was incorporated into the night with four different categories: best Bobby B., best biblical character, best glow up costume and best group costume. A group of students who dressed up as the Blue Man Group ended up winning in that category.
Another huge draw to the event was the escape room inspired by “Squid Games,” the recent Netflix hit. Marshall explained how the escape room was set up for students to complete little games in order to get out. Surprisingly, one of the games released more than just students.
Del Fiorentino witnessed a flying box of crickets after one student frantically pulled her hand back after trying to guess what was in the box. Crickets went everywhere.
Yoon would like to note that “no crickets were harmed in the making of this escape room,” although many were released into the wild.
Don’t be alarmed if a cricket is heard somewhere indoors on the north side of campus; it serves as a testament to the success of the Goodwin Halloween Bash this past Sunday.
By: Sofie Fransen
