Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 11/4/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Justin Ortiz '10 / Wire Staff Members of the Norton community enjoyed decorations adorning Meadows.

It was a scary day for the Meadows staff on Oct. 25. All sorts of creatures were running through their hallways-some were even screaming. Though many may think that this is a typical occurrence in Meadows, this day was especially scary. The annual Spooktacular, an event for the entire Norton community, took place from 1-3 p.m.

The Spooktacular is hosted by Meadows. The halls are decorated by the staff and residents of Meadows North, East and West. Members of the Norton Community and children of Wheaton faculty and staff come in their Halloween costumes and trick-or-treat.

Meadows' Resident Assistants collaborated to decorate Meadows North in the spirit of Halloween. The four floors were competing to see which group was able to make the most festive and spirited floor on a budget of just $30. They used fake spider webs, orange and purple lights, made paper graves, and in some cases, giant spiders were hung from door frames. For those few hours, Meadows became a haunted Wheaton dorm.

The Spooktacular was not just hosted by the staff and residents of Meadows. The RAs of YMCA quad also helped out with the event. Even though they did not aid in the festooning of the floors, they decorated Meadows Center and entertained trick-or-treaters with games before and after they made their way around Meadows North. Activities included pin the face on the pumpkin, doughnut on a string, "bobbing" for apples, face painting, coloring and fortune telling.

Although the event may have been short, it makes a very large impact on the community. Senior Resident of Meadows, David Lopes '10, has participated in the Spooktacular for three years. While talking about it he said, "I love reaching out to the community through this program. Not only does it strengthen the Wheaton community by combining various floors from different quads, but it also opens Wheaton up to the Norton community."

Even though all of the floors were decorated beautifully, there had to be a winner of the competition. Last year the first floor won, and they put up a great fight this time around, but they couldn't beat the fourth floor. The fourth floor had a game room for the trick-or-treaters as well as mummies walking around on the floor.

This year's Spooktacular was a huge success. Over 30 trick-or-treaters came to the event, and all of them loved the games and the transformation of Meadows North into a haunted dorm. When asked about how the Spooktacular has changed over the years Lopes said, "It just keeps getting better and better as the floors get more involved."

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