By Hadassah Umbarger, Staff Writer
Newman’s annual Trunk-or-Treat has been added to the list of events being cancelled because of COVID-19.
Trunk-or-Treat was scheduled to take place at the end of October, but Director of Multicultural Engagement and Campus Life Joseph Shepard said that with COVID-19 concerns and to adhere to campus policies, they decided to cancel the event.
“The division of student affairs has been working this entire semester to ensure that we provide students with the same opportunities to get involved on campus, but in a safe way,” Shepard said.
After the trunk-or-treat was cancelled, Student Life was initially going to change the event into the Boo Drive-Thru, a drive-thru trunk-or-treat, but soon decided that this was not a good plan either.
Shepard said that there were many factors that made them decide to cancel the event, including COVID-19, budget and weather concerns.
“We looked at the rising numbers in Sedgwick county as well as other logistical issues, like what if we have 200 cars come through and five of the nine workstations with a trunk run out of candy?” Shepard said. “And we weren’t able to think through that.”
Student Averie Ashley, the President of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization on campus, said that she understood why the events were cancelled.
“We are not really upset that they had to cancel it because the most important thing is keeping people safe as the COVID numbers keep rising,” she said.
She added that it would be impractical to try to have the Boo Drive-Thru and expect to keep people safe.
And while student leaders agree that the decision to cancel the events was best, it’s still sad for some.
“We were just disappointed that we can’t have that opportunity to give back to the community,” Ashley said.
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, unsplash.com
