CarnEvil celebrates Halloween

Students came to the Smith University Center this Halloween to celebrate the 8th annual CarnEvil event.

The FMU Diplomats hosted the event in collaboration with University Programming Board (UPB) and Student Government Association (SGA). More than 450 students attended the event.

CarnEvil has become one of the largest social events during the fall semester.

The event was first hosted in 2010 when the FMU Diplomats, UPB and the Housing and Residence Life program decided it was time to have a major Halloween event added to the school calendar. SGA replaced the Housing and Residence Life program on the event planning committee in 2011.

The theme for this year’s CarnEvil was “creepy carnival” and was meant to reflect ideas from the hit horror movie “It” which was recently released. The decorations, including clowns and bloody handprints at the entrance to the event, reflected this theme. Carnival-style refreshments were also available, and included funnel cake fries and caramel apples.

The main organizer of the event, FMU Diplomat Freddricka Pressley, said she was pleased with the enthusiasm shown by the students who attended.

“The effort that has been put into some of these costumes is just brilliant,” Pressley said. “It’s great to see so many people turning up to these events; it makes it all worthwhile to see everybody having a great time.”

The event did not focus on just Halloween celebrations, however. The event also celebrated Global Diversity Awareness Month, which is celebrated throughout October. Assistant Dean of Students LaTasha Brand explained the significance of having an educational component included.

“By having SGA involved and using some of their allocation to finance the event, it was important to contain an educational component,” Brand said. “With it being Global Diversity Awareness Month, we decided to ask students to make a written pledge showing their support of this important celebration.”

There were many different activities for the students to enjoy and participate in. FMU alumnus DJ Watts provided the music for the event.

Students who attended were automatically entered into a drawing to win a $60 bookstore gift card. This prize was given out as the event came to a close shortly before 10 p.m.

Students were invited to participate in a costume contest that concluded the night’s events. The contest had three categories: best overall female, best overall male and best couple.

The costumes were judged by having the students cheer for the contestant they felt deserved to win in each category.

Gabriel Hutson won the best overall male category with his take on Poseidon. The best female title went to MaKayla O’Neal for her take on rapper Post Malone. Best couple went to Damien Dinkins-McCall and Sabrina Moody for their effort as “Top Flight Security.”

Additionally, there was an event during the day as part of the CarnEvil from 2-5 p.m. This was the first time CarnEvil events occurred during both Halloween day and night.

Senior psychology major Brandi Jordan said she was impressed with how well the CarnEvil event turned out.