On the evening of Oct. 24, the class for Digital Media Communications Theory and History, DMC 100, hosted a Halloween party in Jewell Hall’s IDEAx lounge. Inside room 103, students set up a photobooth, haunted house walk-through set and Día de los Muertos altar, along with plenty of places to sit and hang out. The set will be available for everyone to experience until Halloween night on Oct. 31. The entire event was planned and executed by students using self-made decorations with some props supplied by the Theater Department. 

“I think the event ended successfully because each group completed their tasks to prepare and communicated with one another,” Jolia Bernal, a junior DMC major, said. “All members took part in the event and were able to apply their creative skills.”

Beginning as just an idea the week before fall break, the DMC 100 class eventually settled on the idea as their final project. The class then sectioned off into teams to brainstorm how to plan and execute the event. Their main focus was not whether or not the event  would be successful, according to Bernal.

“I was on the scene setup team and we prepared for the event by deciding on the theme of the room, collecting props from the Theater Department and setting the scene in the IDEAx room,” Bernal said. “I [also] had the opportunity to paint the backdrop for the photo booth at the event.”

During the week of Oct. 17, as the set team worked away decorating for the party, the advertisement teams posted on social media, distributed flyers and decorated campus sidewalks with chalk to get the word out.

“[The event] was successful due to the advertisements and the amount of chalk designs that were placed on campus,” Andrew Ivy, a junior theater major with a DMC minor, said. “Plus a lot of people walked in the first five minutes of the event.”

Overall, the event turned out “spook-tacular,” according to the class since many students from different areas of study showed up. Participants were given a quick tour through the haunted house set, then sent over to get jumpscared at the photobooth. Lastly, they were shown the Día de los Muertos altar and asked to take a survey about the event. Some students stayed to hang out and tell stories, while others grabbed candy and headed out for the night.

Photos courtesy of Koda Payton, the class of DMC 100 and the DMC Department.