‘Trick or Treat,’ Say Kids on Campus

October 31, 2007

New Wave staff
newwave@tulane.edu

Tulane students wait for young trick-or-treaters in campus residence halls, decorated for the spooky holiday. (Photos by Tricia Travis)

After trick-or-treating on campus, the public school students enjoy a festival on the Newcomb Quad with a fun jump, games such as musical chairs, and the audience favorite — sno-balls.

Tulane students put down their books, decorated their residence halls and picked up Halloween treats to answer the calls of “trick or treat” on Monday (Oct. 29), helping a group of New Orleans children celebrate Halloween.

More than 200 children age 6 to 12 went looking for treats through six Tulane residence halls on Monday in an event sponsored by the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students, or CACTUS. Students who live in Butler, Josephine Louise, Mayer, Monroe, Wall and Willow residence halls participated in the event.

Afterward, the youngsters were treated to a Halloween festival on the Newcomb Quad, said Molly Green, a Tulane junior and the CACTUS chair of administration.

With Tulane students and community members helping out as volunteers, the young visitors bounced in a fun jump, bobbed for apples, played musical chairs and lined up for sno-balls and cotton candy.

Eighteen student-run organizations, ranging from Women in Science to Delta Tau Delta, provided booths on the Newcomb Quad for kids to enjoy face painting, cookie decorating, mummy races and other activities.

Although the annual CACTUS Halloween event wasn’t held last year, the tradition has returned, Green said.

The day is designed to provide Halloween activities for pupils who are from New Orleans schools, are part of CACTUS volunteer projects, or are children of Tulane faculty and staff members, “to show our appreciation for their contributions to the Tulane community,” said senior Shivani Gupta, who chaired the event for CACTUS.

It’s a service project that involves lots of Tulane students and student organizations in a volunteer event that kids really enjoy. Green added, “A lot of the children don’t have safe places to trick-or-treat.”