OBOOerlin

Fall is my favorite semester at Oberlin for a few reasons: the leaves are absolutely stunning, campus is decorated with cute fall decor, and above all, Halloween. If there’s one holiday that Oberlin does well, it’s Halloween. Nearly every department puts up decorations, dining locations have special spooky treats, and there’s a plethora of different events to attend leading up to, and on, Halloween day. To give you an idea, here are a few of the things that I have done this past week and today to celebrate one of the best holidays!

Lab Crawl: Every year on Halloween lab crawl is held, which is a fantastic way to learn about research opportunities all across campus. Participants receive a little booklet which holds stickers that they receive from each station they go to. Once you have enough stickers you can get prizes like pizza, tote bags, and more! While STEM research is highly represented at lab crawl, there’s also opportunities in the humanities such as the Allen Memorial Art Museum!

Organ Pump: This has to be one of my all-time favorite traditions at Oberlin. Imagine this: it’s Halloween night and pretty much the entire student body of Oberlin is sitting in Finney Chapel. At the stroke of midnight a conservatory organ player comes out and begins to play spooky songs on the organ! Creepy! The best part is at the very end when students are invited onto stage where they are invited to lie down and feel the vibrations of the organ pipe through the stage. My friend likes to say you can feel the organ in your organs!

Trick or Treating: It wouldn’t be Halloween without some form of trick or treating on campus. Basically from 12 to 5pm students can trick or treat at participating offices around campus. Departments like ResLife, Oberlin libraries, or even the Allen Memorial Art Museum! I especially enjoyed this my first year because it was useful for better understanding the campus layout as well as learning about offices I didn’t even know existed! This is also known as the best trick or treating on campus with offices consistently having full-sized candy bars or even on-site buttered popcorn machines. 

Get Wilder: Leading up to Halloween there is a huge student-run event right on Wilder Bowl. There’s pumpkin carving, live music, decorations, inflatable obstacle courses, photo booths, and more. This is something I really like going to because usually it’s held in the middle of the week, which almost makes it feel more special and helps with getting into the Halloween spirit. I also really love how lots of different student groups and organizations are represented at this event, which means that there’s something for everyone in your friend group as well as it’s a great opportunity to become more familiar with different groups on campus!

I hope this gets you excited about celebrating Halloween at Oberlin! As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, Oberlin is a small school but with a BIG love for celebrating and all sorts of events. Many of these activities are also great ways to become more familiar with Oberlin as a school as well as the many opportunities available to you. Happy Halloween!