4-H held its Collegiate Trunk or Treat event Tuesday in collaboration with over 15 student organizations. Student organizations camped out at the parking lot by the Extension 4-H Youth Building while dressed in costume with decorated vehicles.
Colby Nance, Sneh Mistry and Alana Crawford represented the PrISUm club at Trunk or Treat and received an invite from 4-H.
“They’re very interested,” Mistry said about the PrISUm club’s solar car. “We have the perfect vehicle to bring to Trunk or Treat, in my opinion. We actually just finished our competition for this car this summer, so this car is actually still functional, even though it’s officially retired from competition and its entire purpose is as an outreach vehicle, so coming to events like this is exactly what it’s for. We come to a lot of outreach events out here and make sure that we’re involved in K-12 outreach as well as in our community,”
Mistry claimed the solar car stands out from the event’s other vehicles.
“We got a lot of trunk space here too, and then we got [a skeleton in their trunk named “Boomhauer”] having a grand old time,” Mistry said.
Mistry also said this event is excellent for reaching out to the community of Ames but needs to spread awareness about the club on campus.
“If you were to go to West Ames, there’s a handful of billboards out there that this is an event that’s for the community, but even advertising to other students on campus who would also maybe be interested it in undertaking or supporting it in some way would be kind of a thing that may be done,” Mistry said. “I don’t know what it looked like, but only student org leadership really knows about this, and then they show up here. No one else in the community, at a student level, really knows this is happening.”
Andrew Gooding, president of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), said NSBE has been involved with the event for some time.
“This is something that NSBE does pretty annually,” Gooding said. “It’s just a way of us being able to give back to the community, showing our Halloween spirit and just having a little bit of fun.”
NSBE’s trunk was Batman-themed, and Gooding claimed it was unbeatable.
“It’s Batman,” Gooding said. “Who’s beating Batman? We got the all-black car which matches the theme, it’s perfect. Kids love Batman. Adults love Batman. Who doesn’t love Batman?”
Gooding admired how the event helps build community, but it might need to be bigger for its setting.
“I would say this event does a great job of bringing people together,” Gooding said. “We see these cars right next to each other. A lot of community being able to talk back to each other and understand what’s really going on, and then also just making kids happy. Seeing the smiles on kids’ faces is really uplifting to people. I would say the only thing is they might have to get a bigger lot soon, but other than that, I think this event is ran greatly. The kids are loving it. Everybody here is happy and smiling.”
Lindy Kramer, Laura Brockhoff, Maci Sullivan and Michael Fronczak represented Dance Marathon and participated in the event because it was aligned with their mission.
“Dance Marathon is all about helping kiddos, and so we have a lot to do with families in the Ames community that are affected by neonatal and pediatric disease[s], so anytime we can get out and support the community, we want to,” Kramer said.
Kramer also encouraged students to get involved with Dance Marathon.
Paige Martin, Nicole Jensen, Delaney Graef and Ben Kujawa represented the Forestry Club and were invited by 4-H to participate in the event. Kujawa dressed as Smokey Bear.
“We’ve been trying to do some more unique things as a club because there’s so many different forestry options [at Iowa State], and it’s really hard to hit everything,” Graef said. “It’s just so great to connect with the community. It’s hard, especially when we’re all at school, and we’re away from home, and we don’t get to be with our communities anymore, so this is nice to reconnect with the Ames community, and it’s so good to see all the kids here.”
Martin said the event is suitable for getting the club’s name out.
“I feel like it helps introduce clubs to the community more than just talking to our own club or talking to other Iowa State students,” Martin said. “This is people that are more outside of Iowa State and kids that are younger, so you can see what kind of clubs there are if they do want to come to Iowa State, or what kind of options are for this kind of stuff.”
Graef wanted people to know that the Forestry Club meets in Science Hall Room 202 every other Tuesday and meets with professionals in the field.
The Forestry Club brought attention to their trunk by dressing Kujawa in a Smokey Bear costume.
“Of course, we have Smokey the Bear (which is kind of hard to beat), which not every kid loves, but for the most part, it’s a big, giant teddy bear,” Martin said.
Smokey Bear had no comments.
