By Raymond Matthews, Longwood ’19 for The Undergraduate Journal
Offbeat as it may seem, haunted houses have been a popular philanthropy event amongst Phi Kappa Tau chapters for decades and 2021 is no exception. Three haunted houses have occurred across the country this past Halloween season, all hosted by very different chapters and all raising funds for SeriousFun Children’s Network.
Delta Kappa wraps up their haunted house.
The Delta Kappa chapter at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville held their haunted house over the course of a SeriousFun service week. The week concluded not only in funds raised for our philanthropic partner, but also accumulated over 700 service hours over the course of the week’s activities. Perhaps even more impressive is they reportedly doubled their fundraising goal, raising enough to send two kids to a SeriousFun camp.
Alpha Pi brothers in high spirits at their event.
Across the country, Alpha Pi at University of Washington, were cooking up some frights of their own. Between October 21-22 the brothers decided to decorate the inside of their very own chapter house. Each and every brother at our Alpha Pi chapter acted as tour guides in which led groups of participants through the entire haunted house, while the rest of the active brothers scared the individuals who were passing through.
In total, Alpha Pi raised $1,170 for Camp Korey, which is their local SeriousFun camp within the area.
Serving as what may be one of the oldest haunted house traditions in Phi Kappa Tau comes from the Alpha Omega chapter at Baldwin Wallace University. The Cleveland area chapter has held their haunted house for over thirty years. Their event, also raising money for SeriousFun, took place at their campus’ Student Activity Center as they are an unhoused chapter. Brothers of the Alpha Omega chapter used large black tarps and strobe lights, as well as spotlights to cover walls and light up the rooms while keeping a supernatural feeling throughout the haunted house.
Participants are asked what level of fright they individually want; in addition, given a strobe light warning before they arrive. By getting creative in utilizing their campus space the group raised over $700 for SeriousFun, and even more coming in through t-shirts sold in conjunction with the event.
Why do haunted houses work so well for members of Phi Kappa Tau? That may be a question best explored at another time. For now the lesson to take away is, although each of these three haunted houses were executed differently, with some creativity and leveraging the right time of year a great campus tradition can be forged.
The Undergraduate Journal is a new recurring column within Phi Kappa Tau News, covering topics of undergraduate interest to promote current chapters. If you would like to contribute to the Undergraduate Journal or have your chapter featured contact communications@phikappatau.org.