What does it take to scare a bunch of children? Judging from Eleanor Roosevelt College’s annual Halloween Fest, not a lot. Fifty students from Jackson Elementary School found out exactly how much work members of the Student Council at ERC and Programming at ERC put into frightening them on Oct. 29.

Sinister music greeted the children as they were escorted to the second floor of the lodge, which had been converted to a haunted house. It had two dark corners with scary activities like sticking hands in a bowls of peeled grapes, sliced peaches and other revolting-feeling items.

The two other open areas also had creepy activities; fortunately, none of these resulted in tears. The presence of random ghosts, vampires and other scary beings jumping out was fun, both for the volunteers in costumes and the kids. The haunted house tour resulted in a lot of excited but scared kids, but to soften the eeriness, each child was handed a cookie as they left the house.

Students in SCERC and PERC worked very hard to put on Halloween Fest. It was nearly impossible getting volunteers to help with the haunted house, but after repeated requests, they managed to get people to help pull it together. The organizers made the event aesthetically pleasing through attention to detail and elaborate costumes worn by the volunteers.

All in all, Halloween Fest went smoothly.

“”I had a blast putting it on last year,”” said veteran co-chair Heather Handley. “”Seeing the looks on the kids’ faces at the end makes all the hard work worthwhile.””

The young students’ energy was contagious, and everyone had a great time during the two short hours. The looks of delight on the kids’ faces at the end of the day made all the frantic work pay off, and ERC students are looking forward to doing it again in a year.