Here at Stevens, Halloween is celebrated on campus in its own special way.
Quack or Treat, an event organized by the SGA, is a yearly event in which students can trick or treat at various locations across campus. The name of the event comes from “Trick or Treat,” but “we’re ducks, so we quack. We don’t trick, we quack,” explained Elena Malova, SGA Vice President of Finance. The event was held between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on October 31, Halloween. Students can sign in and receive a treat bag in Howe Center lobby and collect candy at 27 different locations around campus. Candy as well as other goodies were given out at the Career Center, the Student Affairs & Student Life Office, Howe Center Desk, the President’s Office, the Student Service Center, TRAC, CAPS & Disability Services, Health Services, Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, the Registrar’s Office, STEP, the Campus Bookstore, Dining Services, Undergraduate Academics, the Library, Residential & Dining Services, Residential Education, Alumni & Development Office, University Events, Admissions Office, the SGA/LINK/Honor Board/Stute/WCPR offices, Cultural Greek Council, Theta Xi, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Psi, Delta Phi Epsilon, and Theta Phi Alpha. This is the third year that this event has been held, with the first being in 2017.
Malova was in charge of planning the event and thoroughly enjoyed the process. She “liked planning it cause it was a break from being VPF. Decorating the office is one of the things I liked doing.” Over a month was spent planning the event and organizing the treats and decorations. A total of 15,000 pieces of candy was bought along with decorations, treat bags, and superhero ducks for Health Services and the Howe Center Desk to hand out. This totaled up to $960 spent on the whole event.
Many of the students and administration got into the Halloween spirit, dressing up in costume. “Seeing Dean Nilsen as a Golden Girl was the funniest thing. Leo and the rest of Student Life dressing up as superheroes was very spot on. They put a lot of good thought into their costumes.” Many students were also excited seeing each other’s costumes. Malova noted that she “likes when kids come in and dress up. It’s a lot of fun when people recognize their costumes. I saw a Joker and a Batman get excited seeing each other and then pose for a picture.”
Most of the locations for Quack or Treat were determined by Sara Klein. A majority of the locations were various offices in the Howe Center. Various undergraduate offices were contacted as well to participate. The student organization offices on the 7th floor of Howe, which include the SGA, the Stute, WCPR, the LINK, and the Honor Board were also included as a Quack or Treat location because it “would be awesome for [them] to participate.” Commenting on some of the locations, Malova explained that “we added a lot of new offices to the locations, like the Alumni Office because they don’t get a lot of students coming up. Being an alumni is life after undergraduate so it made sense to bring the students there.” Sarah Chen, a student quack-or-treater, commented on the Alumni Office, saying, “I think it’s cute. I like what the 8th floor is doing. I didn’t know the Alumni Office was a place where they educated students on philanthropy.”
Overall, Malova was very happy with the turnout for the event. “I liked it. I like the excitement of Halloween and when large-scale events have a lot of people participating.” She also was glad about how much all the students appeared to enjoy the event. “There were a group of boys who finished the whole chart and bragged about it. I took a picture of them.” A total of 270 people signed in to the event, more than last year, which had 201 people attend. Last year’s event was held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and it was not raining then. The weather this Halloween did not seem to deter students from participating.
A few students gathering candy were asked on their thoughts on Quack or Treat. Student Matt Russo proclaimed, “I loved it. I always love it. I would have just missed it if I went into college without trick or treating.” A student overheard in the Howe elevator compared Quack or Treat to “trick or treating in an apartment building,” an apt description as a majority of candy collection involved traveling down all the various floors of Howe Center. Audrey D’Souza, Editor-in-Chief of The Stute, was in the 7th floor office handing out Rice Krispies to incoming quack or treaters and expressed, “I was excited to be a part of the event. We decorated our office earlier this month, so I was excited to show it off. I hope people enjoyed the treats we gave out.”
With this being the third year for the event, Malova expressed her hope to see Quack or Treat become a long-lasting Stevens campus tradition. It “definitely needs an upscale vibe of a campus tradition. It was great planning it. I loved seeing all the kids walking around. It needs more hype to it. I want it to last forever. More kids dressing up. More adults dressing up. Next year Attila should dress up.”
To culminate the event, Malova “yeeted the SGA pumpkin in front of North Building on the sidewalk as a symbol of the end of Quack or Treat.”
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