Abby Derkson/Winonan

This Halloween, along with other fun activities taking place on campus, the Sustainability House offered safe, economical activities for local trick-or-treating children.

Incorporating their theme of sustainable practices, residents offered decorations and activities that were crafted with recycled material.

The Sustainability House differed from the activities in the other participating residence halls.

Instead of just passing out candy – although they had plenty of it to give away – residents of the Sustainability House and volunteers from the East Lake Apartments set up and ran a haunted house.

Sustainability House and East Lake Hall Director Jonathan Hetzel helped run the event.

“It’s designed to be kid friendly,” Hetzel said. “It’s designed not to be too scary, but kind of fun.”

House residents reinvented their living space.

Plastic garbage bags covered the walls, fake cobwebs hung from corners and the stairway and furniture was overturned to create a spooky effect.

Strobe lights and ominous music added to the scariness of the house, and residents wore their own Halloween costumes.
Residents also altered the “scary factor” depending on the age range of the children.

For the younger children, it was not as scary, but for older ones they amped up the scare factor enough to draw out shrieks of terror from fellow college students.

Sustainability House residents also helped trick-or-treaters create birdfeeders from recycled bottles and “I-Spy” games, where they filled a plastic bottle with birdseed and a small toy inside for the children to find.

Sustainability House Community Assistant Thomas Gorycki said the crafts were part of the learning experience the Sustainability House had to offer.

“The best way to reach out to kids is to give them something to take home,” Gorycki said.

Last year at the Sustainability House, children had made lava lamps from recycled bottles and Alka Seltzer, but children were not able to take them with them.

This year’s bird feeders were easier to transport.

Resident Jinniece Kalal, a junior, thought the Halloween activities were not only great for children, but also great for the Sustainability House.

“Besides working with the kids,” she said, “we have an opportunity to spread our name to the community and become a part of Winona, not just Winona State.”

According to Hetzel, Halloween fun at the Sustainability House was all about making something enjoyable out of something ordinary.

“One thing that I like about sustainability,” he said, “is that it doesn’t take a lot of bells and whistles. You can do a lot of fun activities with recycled goods. It might not seem super fancy, but it can be engaging for kids.”

Contact Abby at [email protected]