The Student Program Board (SPB) collaborated with the Office for Student Involvement (OSI) to host the Haunted Habitat on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., as a way to kickstart the Halloween weekend at Oakland University. All OU students were invited to join the festivities and view a showing of the classic horror film, “Poltergeist.”

The event, serving as the organization’s Thursday night mainstage event, featured the film as well as a costume contest and tons of food, candy, snacks and beverages. Treat boxes were also provided for students containing cookies, brownies and Rice Crispy Treats provided by the Student Activities Funding Board (SAFB). WXOU attended the event to provide music and a DJ before and after the film and Student Video Productions (SVP) supplied a photobooth for all participants. The prizes for the costume contest included a Keurig or a pair of AirPods, also provided by SAFB, for the students wearing the best Halloween costume.

Josh Robinson, president of the Student Program Board, thought the event would be a great way to spark enthusiasm for the holiday as well as encourage student participation in night events on campus.

“We want to really start hitting more holidays, especially around the school year and help get people more involved on campus at night time and get them into the Halloween spirit,” Robinson said.

He also hoped that hosting Haunted Habitat would ease stress students might be feeling after hitting the mid-semester mark, saying, “the main motivator behind this [event] was that we wanted to bring that festive spirit back into campus. Coming back from a year of COVID-19, we want to get people excited, get their minds off of classes and kind of relax.”

Stephanie Jurva, assistant director of student organization programs, reflected on the popularity of the previous year’s event and wanted to continue the excitement of on-campus Halloween activities in the first year back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was one of our more attended events last year during the pandemic, so we definitely wanted to bring it back this year,” she said.

The Haunted Habitat is typically a collaboration between OSI and SPB dated for the Thursday before Halloween, but Robinson and SPB took the wheel this year to host the annual event.

OSI additionally coordinated the Halloween Extravaganza the following night on Friday, Oct. 29, with a film viewing, snacks and beverages to continue the Halloween celebration for any students interested. The SPB hosts several events every semester and students can look out for flyers posted around campus as well as their Instagram page.

Similar events will also be advertised by the OSI on their Instagram page as well as flyers featured on the bulletin board outside the OSI in the Oakland Center.