Maurice Buckner
Newswriting Student
From 6-8:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, Cameron parents and their children carved pumpkins and more in the “Spooky Fun Night” event hosted by Cameron University’s Moms and Dads on Campus (MAD) and CU Be SMART.
The “spooky” event was held in Shepler’s Wichita Room.
The night began with coloring, popcorn, pizza, cupcakes and Oreo Dirt cakes, which consisted of chocolate pudding topped with grounded Oreo’s and gummy night crawlers made by MAD’s Vice President Rhiannon Poolaw.
While parents and children snacked on these spooky treats, Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” played from the projector. Being a mom, MAD’s President Jennifer Stringham knew youngsters would grow restless during the film and allowed them and their parents to begin the pumpkin carving whenever they chose.
Clusters of families sat down on the plastic tapped off area selected for the pumpkin carving and began cutting away, digging out the pumpkin pulp and piling it on the floor. Little arms were shoulder deep inside a pumpkin.
Student-parent Maria Marston was in attendance with her son.
“I heard about [the event] from my adviser,” Marston said. “We were talking about how I’m a single parent, and I usually attend a lot of functions with my son; she gave me the idea to contact Student Services.”
Marston, having no previous experience carving a pumpkin, dove right in.
“This is the very first time I’ve ever carved a pumpkin, Marston said. “I’ve never ever wanted to carve a pumpkin because it feels yucky, but it’s different. I don’t mind it.”
The “Spooky Fun Night” was a collaborative effort between MAD and CU Be SMART. Although they assist student parents differently – the former providing advice and activities for parents and their children to come together, the latter providing resources, information, support and encouragement for student parents – the two entities share a common thread, helping students who have children.
Poolaw and Stringham held different roles when the plans were made for the Spooky Fun Night. Poolaw was the acting President of MAD while Stringham had just joined CU Be SMART as a student worker a few weeks prior. MAD was in need of an extra hand to keep the organization up and running.
Once Stringham joined, Poolaw saw her fit to be the organization’s president. The acting president passed on the position and accepted her new title as Vice President.
Stringham credited Poolaw for coming up with the idea for the event.
“Rhiannon was the acting President of Moms and Dads on Campus, and the idea of the Spooky Family Night was originally her idea” Stringham said. “I started working at CU Be SMART Parent Resource Center as a student worker a couple of weeks ago and asked Rhiannon if we could do a joint activity. Since CU Be SMART and Moms and Dads on Campus both work towards assisting student parents, it seemed a match made in heaven.”
This was Stringham’s first time organizing and leading an event. Even though she was nervous, she held herself together.
“I’ve never organized an activity before” Stringham said. “So, getting all the little details right was challenging. Let’s just say I learned a lot, and hopefully the next activity runs smother.”
Toward the end of the event, there was a raffled for guests to win a decorated ceramic pumpkin made by Art major Taylor Rich. The lucky winner was Julie Fanelli.
From 2-3 p.m. on Nov. 20, CU Be SMART will be having a “Couponing” workshop in Shepler’s Wichita Room. As always, kids are welcome to attend while parents participate in the workshop.
From 4-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, the organization will be hosting a Family Swim Party at the Aggie Rec Center. MAD is planning to have even more events as well and will announce them on its Facebook page “Moms and Dads on Campus.”
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