A virtual Halloween with CAB

Following an abrupt end to spring because of COVID-19, summer heat above 90 degrees, and an uncertain future for students, people in the Rio Grande Valley were looking forward to fall and Halloween. However, due to COVID-19, Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino said that he won’t authorize “normal Halloween activities” and Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez said he will allow events that monitor traffic. 

“Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s webpage. “There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween. If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.” 

The CDC also put different traditional Halloween activities into three categories based on the risk of contracting COVID-19. Lower risk activities include decorating one’s living space and holding virtual movie nights. Moderate risk activities include having a small gathering in a well-ventilated space for movie nights and costume parties. Higher risk activities include traditional trick-or-treating and attending indoor haunted houses. But this does not mean people will not celebrate Halloween.  

At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the Campus Activities Board has ideas for participating in Halloween virtually. 

The CAB is hosting several events throughout October. One of these events is a virtual escape room from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Oct. 29 via Zoom. According to CAB, the goal is the promote fun and engagement with students. The people behind this event are Nicole E. Mireles, CAB’s pop-culture committee chair, and Alejandra Santos, CAB’s culture committee chair, both students at the university. They said they wanted to answer questions like, “What makes students excited”, and “Would they feel excited to watch a movie virtually?” 

“We were trying to come up with something unique for people, that way they don’t get bored if we have the same events,” Santos said via Zoom. “We found out that students like events, especially virtual ones, in which they actually get to interact with something and do something and feel something.” 

That was when the CAB staff concluded that an escape room would provide what the student community wants. 

“Students really like virtual events because they like to be at home and they are feeling comfortable at home,” Mireles added. “We do want to make it more comfortable, knowing that [students] can join and still be part of [that] college experience.” 

Though Santos loves escapes rooms, she said she was sad that the pandemic prevented her and her friends from attending live escape rooms  in downtown McAllen. When she was planning the escape room, she wondered if it could even be done virtually. She found two examples of virtual escape rooms and was set to make it happen. During the brainstorming phase, Santos said lists were created of the events CAB had done. Then the board highlighted events with a lot of engagement. According to Santos, the virtual murder mystery event back in August had the most engagement, thus “we decided to do the escape room.” 

The theme of this year’s escape room is Dead Lift. It will be a typical escape room, but virtual. The CAB reached out to Degy Entertainment, an entertainment booking organization, to create the escape room and provide a moderator for the event. 

The Campus Activities Board will host several events throughout the month. The graphic was provided to Pulse by CAB.

Mireles hopes that students who attend the event will learn that they can still have the college experience by participating in campus events remotely. She used Vaqueros on the Mic, a karaoke event typically done at the Student Union in Edinburg but done digitally, as an example of the virtual-college experience. Students interested in attending must RSVP on VLink. 

Another event CAB is hosting is “Magic Night” with magician Brian Miller. The event starts at 6 p.m. on Oct. 28 via Zoom. Miller is an author whose, onTEDx Talk is , included in many “Best of TED” lists, according to Miller’s website. Students interested in attending must RSVP on VLink. 

CAB’s pop-culture committee chair said she explored the board’s vendor, Neon Entertainment, for virtual activities for the Fall 2020 semester. “I was looking into different magicians and different comedians,” Mireles said. “Brian Miller caught my attention.” 

To add the Halloween spirit, she decided to bring Miller in October. According to Mireles, it cost about $1,000 to have the magician perform virtually for students. 

Mireles also said CAB has not done this event before. Although it has brought guest speakers, she said none are like “Magic Night.”. She hopes it offers something “fun” and “new.”. Also, CAB wants to see how Miller performs in magic without a live audience. Mireles is hopeful that students get “new insight to magic”.  

     “I want them to engage, look at the magician,” Mireles said. “I want them to be like, ‘Oh, I think he’s tricking us, but I want to look real closely.’