Spooktacular is an annual Halloween carnival that is free and open to the public, and run by students who are pursuing a degree in Education.

There were carnival games, a photo booth, free food, face painting, along with giveaways for the kids, and featured arts and crafts. Kids were also encouraged to come in a Halloween costume.

When the kids and their families first walk into the event,  they receive a card called a “passport.” The kids go around the SOE Building and in order to get their free prize, they got to collect 8 stamps which they can win from playing the carnival games at the event.

“This event helps us [students] get used to interacting with kids,” Rolando Sangalang, an education major said. Sangalang was in charge of games. His game was a fishing game, where kids had to “hook” a certain amount of paper fish to win a stamp.Each of the fish had paper clips attached to them, and the kids used a pole with a magnet at the end to get a fish.

Sangalang explained that his game was a graded project for his ED-350 class.  Sangalang says he enjoyed this project because he was able to see kids and their family happy out of this assignment.

Deneesha Blas, an education major, said that this event not only benefits the kids and their family but also helps facilitate community service for organizations. The organizations that were involved were the Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), Gearing Education for Maximum Service (GEMS) as well as the National Honor Society (NHS).

The most interesting room at Spooktacular was the Wonka room. Based on the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the room makes one feel like they are in Mr. Wonka’s factory. The only thing missing was the Oompa Loompas. The room had more carnival games as well as a piñata that was shaped as a box of Nerds candy.

“This event helps prepare us [future educators] for life after graduation,” Jhonalyn Castro, an education major said.

Castro, was in charge of the Wonka room along with her peers explained that the Spooktacular helps get them involved with the community.

Castro said it is important to develop a relationship with the kids and parents because it helps them work together in the future. Castro explained that this event helps them collaborate with parents and future educators to generate ideas for lesson plans and activities. “A lot of effort goes into this event and it was worth it seeing it all pay off,” Castro said.

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He received his Bachelor’s in social work with a minor in Sociology in 2008. Three years later, he completed a Master’s in counseling with an emphasis in school and mental health counseling.

When Lujan graduated in 2008, he wanted to become a social worker, but instead he became a student counselor.

“I became a student counselor by accident,” Lujan said.

He explained that most places weren’t hiring for social workers and if they were, it was a three to six month waiting period to get into the government. “One of my friends said, ‘lets go become student counselors’ and I said, ‘okay, shoot let’s go try it out,’ so I applied.”

His first job was at D.L. Perez Elementary School and loved working with kids.

He took some time off work to work on his Master’s degree.

He landed a job at Benavente Middle School, where he worked until August 2015. He then transferred to JFK.

“There is no typical day,” Lujan said.”I wish there was. Your day always varies.”

Lujan explained that everyday is different and is what he enjoys about his job. He said he’s either talking to parents/students, helping students, doing paper work, or helping prepare seniors for life after high school.

Helping students doesn’t stop there. Lujan is also an adult advisor at Youth for Youth Live Guam(YFYLG).  YFYLG focuses on youth empowerment and encouraging youth to live a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. As an adult advisor, Lujan assists members of the organization and encourages other teens in the community to live a positive and healthy lifestyle.

“The skills I learned as a counselor, I’m able to apply it to my work with Youth for Youth, ” Lujan said, “A lot of them look to me as a mentor.”

He helps coordinate their annual youth conference which is always held at the Hyatt around Spring. He helps train the youth members also known as facilitators on presentation skills, issues on topics such as substance abuse, suicide prevention, team building, and how to run a “family group” which is a small team of 10 to 15 teens. He teaches the skills he’s learned from UOG to the facilitators at a high/middle school level.

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