Ball State University’s North Neighborhood celebrated Halloween with their “Nightmare on McKinley” event Oct. 27. From 7-10 p.m., North Neighborhood residents participated in October themed festivities all created by each hall’s president and council. 

Maxwell Robson, first-year Ball State media major, is the president of the Botsford/Swinford hall during the 2022-23 school year. He and Botsford/Swinford’s nine council members brought the event to life in their part of the North Neighborhood in a small time frame.

“[Nightmare on McKinley Avenue] is probably our most rushed event,” Robson said. “[We started planning] early October, and it just got rushed through because it seemed like a good idea, but it was hard to try and plan out.”

Thomas Tran, first-year Ball State media production major, is the vice president of the Botsford/Swinford hall. Tran said Robson reached out to the other North Neighborhood hall presidents to combine this event. 

Tran said an upperclassman mentioned North Neighborhood had collaborated with events in the past. 

“A really good thing [Robson] has done is really [focus] on [the] community between the Johnson [halls],” Tran said. “He reached out to the other presidents and see if they would be willing to collaborate on these types of events, and they’re really set on fire for that idea.”

Residence halls like Botsford/Swinford are able to throw events like Nightmare on McKinley because of the funding from their respective hall, as well as funding from the Residence Hall Association (RHA). The RHA is a group within Ball State that works to improve on-campus living. 

While Nightmare on McKinley involved all North Neighborhood halls, and all included movies and costume contests, each individual hall had activities specific to them. Botsford/Swinford had “Scareoke”, North West had trivia and “eye pong” and Schmidt/Wilson had caramel apples and arts and crafts. North held the final costume contest at the end of the night. 

“[There was] a costume contest between all the Johnson buildings,” Tran said. “The councils nominated the best costumes [based on] how much effort or uniqueness [was put into the costumes]. We [showed] the top six [costumes], and then we narrowed down from there [to pick the overall winner].”

The final winners of the Nightmare on McKinley costume contest were Ball State students who did a group little red riding hood costume. Kya Twitty, second-year Ball State English major, won the costume contest as little red riding hood. 

This was one of her first events on campus that she has attended this year. She said she typically avoids campus events, but after going to Nightmare on McKinley, her perspective changed.

“What made me not go to the events was I felt like a lot of people didn’t go,” Twitty said. “I came to this one [and] it was so much fun.”

Tran said the North Neighborhood will be holding another event in November. While the details aren’t official, he said there will be Thanksgiving-related festivities for Ball State students to enjoy. 

“I can guarantee [people] about the Johnson Jamboree,” Tran said. “[Johnson Jamboree will be] hosted by Botsford/Swinford and Schmidt Wilson…[Botsford/Swinford is] focusing on catering towards the [Thanksgiving] main courses and side dishes. And then we’d come together and all meet at Schmidt Wilson.”

Contact Maya Kim with comments via mayabeth.kim@bsu.edu and on Twitter @mayakim03.

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