Rated as one of the top haunted colleges in the U.S. according to College Consensus, Drew University was a hub for haunted events this Halloweekend.
On Saturday Oct. 30, Student Activities hosted Drew Fright Night in the EC, which featured cookie decorating, face painting, mask making and pumpkin painting. One of the night’s main features was the costume contest, which took place on Student Activities’s Instagram (@drewstuact).
Chris Mwaniki Murage (‘24) won the $100 Amazon gift card as a pharaoh, but said he was not expecting the victory.
“In my mind, I was thinking of something I’d stand out in,” Murage said. “What’s better than an African Pharaoh?”
Murage had some tough competition, with one group of suitemates dressing up as the emotions from Inside Out.
Anna Smith (‘23) said her suite was inspired by a social psychology course discussion to dress as different emotions this Halloween.
On losing the contest, Smith said, “We felt disheartened a bit, we were really excited about our outfit and how accurate it was, and we really thought it was gonna win! Plus, most of the other costumes were single-person so we thought by having a group it might’ve given us an advantage.”
The event lasted from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., and some students thought there would be a low turnout, especially on the eve of a college-favorite holiday.
“Honestly, we thought only 40 people would show up because it was the Saturday night of halloweekend,” Student Engagement Program Coordinator Robbie Angarone (‘24) said. “We were very pleasantly surprised to have as many people as we did.”
Isla Ubiles (‘24) said the limited number of students was expected, but had an impact on the night.
“It had the potential to be very fun,” Ubiles said. “I think if more people were there, it would have been a lot more fun.”
She added her favorite part of the night was drinking apple cider while painting her “tiny little baby pumpkin.”
The event also featured a series of high-stakes mini games for students to participate in.
“The mummy wrap and the musical chairs in particular were very funny because they were taking the games very seriously,” Angarone said. “In musical chairs people picked the chairs up and ran with them to win, and everyone was laughing.”
Halloween fans had several other opportunities to celebrate the holiday on campus, such as Haunted Tours on Oct. 28 and Haunted Casino Night on Oct. 29.
