Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: File - The Battalion [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Fred Lambuth [Click to enlarge]

Children from around the community have been invited to trick-or-treat Wednesday in the safe environment of Texas A&M residence halls, said Katie Fitzgerald, Davis-Gary graduate hall director and graduate student in education administration.

"On Wednesday, the Residence Education Department under Residence Life is partnering with the Residence Hall Association to allow children to come trick-or-treat in the residence halls," Fitzgerald said. "It is going to be from 6 to 8 p.m. and various halls on both Northside and Southside are participating."

This was a different kind of program in Old Army days. Until recently, the trick-or-treating programs consisted of students going around dorms trick-or-treating each other.

"This program started out in the early 1990s through RHA (Residence Hall Association) and was between residence halls for the students to trick-or-treat each other," Fitzgerald said. "In 2005, residence education and RHA partnered together and made it a community program to invite elementary students from around the area to come out and trick-or-treat. There are different volunteers throughout the halls escorting the kids around."

The children will have the opportunity to experience the different parts of campus and see how creative A&M students can be in their costumes and decorations for the festivities.

"We have two different types of trick-or-treating going on," Fitzgerald said. "Some of the halls have traditional trick-or-treating, which is door-to-door in the rooms, and there will be someone to escort the children along with their parents to each residence hall in groups."

"There is also what we are calling central location trick-or-treating where some of the halls will have candy in their TV Lounge or little activities outside. On Northside, two of the halls are doing a carnival over in the A3 Lounge."

There is no designated parking for the event. Parking rules are still in effect so anyone off-campus will need to park in the parking garages. For any of the kids who want to trick-or-treat, it is for elementary-aged students from around the community.

A sign will identify the designated entrance for the trick-or-treaters at each of the participating halls.

Bonnie Walker, a freshman chemistry major and resident of Spence Hall, will participate in the event.

"We are supposed to hand out candy to small children in costumes on Halloween," Walker said. "We have to provide our own candy and if we need to leave before 8 p.m., we can just leave our candy outside our door."

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