The School of Education held their Spooktacular event on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017.

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.