On Wednesday, October 26 from 6 to 8 P.M., the Department of Housing and Residence Life hosted their Housing ‘Hall-O-Ween’ event across campus where they called out students to dress up and visit each dorm hall to pick up candy and show off their Halloween costumes. Activities among residence dorms included pumpkin painting, cookie decorating, costume contests and snacks consisting of s’mores, apple cider and seemingly limitless candy.
Violet Hawkins is a resident director at Governors Hall as well as a graduate student currently in her masters program for clinical mental health counseling. She oversaw the event’s outreach and management and was the one who brought the event to East Tennessee State University for the first time in 2022. Learning and improving from experience, as she was also a residential advisor as a student for three years as an undergrad, she was happy to see the tradition live on in 2023. Hawkins used this time to not only celebrate Halloween as a community but also to encourage students to step out of their dorms and make new connections among their peers. In addition, clubs such as the String Society Club, Sustainability Ambassadors, Martial Arts Club and more were set up in each hall where students could walk in and get informed.
“One of the big parts of the event is making students aware of these clubs, organizations and campus resources,” Hawkins said. “Getting to make that in-person connection whereas maybe they wouldn’t have a chance to hop all the offices.”
Making her mark on ETSU’s history, Hawkins continues to encourage engagement by building community and bringing awareness to diverse clubs for every student to find one that resonates with them.
Along with Hawkins, residence advisors across campus promoted their respective clubs and halls with doors open for the ETSU public. Olivia Gatlin is a sophomore and a residence advisor at Stone Hall. She is in the Pre-Health-Living-Learning Community that resides in Stone. They decided to partner up with Outdoor Adventure to promote a healthy lifestyle with the outdoors. This being her second year as an advisor, Gatlin was excited for the event to be brought back since last year.
“I think it really brings the community together,” Gatlin said. “I would be working at my old job and see people walk by in costumes and be like ‘I really wish I was a part of that.’”
For staff and students, Halloween was made fun and childlike once again as everyone got a chance to dress up as their favorite characters and roam the halls in the search for candy and learn about different clubs that fit their fancy. To learn more about the Department of Housing and Residence Life, visit https://www.etsu.edu/students/housing/ or their Instagram at @etsuhousing.
