A night full of activities will be held over Zoom for children to attend

Boo at NDSU has been an event held on campus for six years now. While the event will look a little different this year since it will have to be virtual, a lot of work has been done to ensure the event is still fun for the children participants.

“Our plan to keep everyone engaged is by allowing student organizations to provide some sorts of entertainment for the kids that come to virtual Boo at NDSU,” Nicole Askew, the Coordinator of campus activities said.

During the event, student organizations will be hosting breakout rooms where children can participate in a variety of activities. Among some include a haunted house tour, a finger puppet show, Halloween themed crafts and a science experiment.

“While we couldn’t host people on campus this year, we still wanted to give them the option to stay connected with those of us at NDSU and let them know we are still here to provide them with activities until we go back to host events how we traditionally would,” Askew added.

Brianna Santangelo, the president of Grad Phi spoke about what her organization usually does during the event and what they’re planning for this year.

Since Grad Phi is a campus organization based around physics, Santangelo explained that they usually do physics demonstrations that fit a Halloween theme. “For example last year we had a ‘bubbling cauldron’ that was filled with liquid nitrogen and a ‘levitating’ bicycle wheel gyroscope,” Santangelo said.

Santangelo said that they have had to make some changes to fit the virtual format. “For Boo at NDSU, we like to pick demos that the kids could interact with in some way. Now that it is virtual we have redirected to demos that are interesting to record so the kids can watch the videos while we talk to them.”

At this year’s event, Santangelo said that they are going to use a demo that will be different from their usual soapy science/slim demo.

Santangelo said that she sees a lot of kids enjoying the physics demos as they “enjoy learning the ‘why’ behind them.” One of Santangelo’s favorite parts of Boo at NDSU is interacting with the children.

“They’re always so excited to talk about their costumes and play with the physics demos we’ve brought. It’s great seeing them have so much fun and learn something too.”

Jen Kacere, the Assistant Director for Leadership and Development of Residence Life, spoke more about the changes made this year, as well as the experience kids get out of the event.

Kacere explained that the event is a good way to involve the community in a fun way while allowing children to connect with students. “The children enjoy feeling like they get to feel the college experience.”

Though kids won’t be able to go trick-or-treating around campus and meet students in-person, Kacere said this year’s event will still allow them to have fun just like it has in the past.

“It’s really just providing a safe opportunity for children to still be in their homes, but yet still feel like they can get dressed up and have a little bit of fun and still interact with the college students.”

When asked if she expects the turnout to stay the same, Kacere explained how they have marketed the event like they have in the past for the community to see. “If we can get 100 to 150 children or families that log in on Thursday night, that would, I think, be a success.”

Boo at NDSU will be held Oct. 29 from 5:30-7 p.m. For more information and access to the Zoom link, go to https://www.ndsu.edu/reslife/get_involved/residence_hall_association/boo_at_ndsu/