Characters on the loose at AWC on Halloween
Be on the lookout on Halloween at Arizona Western College — you never know what you might run into.
Anyone from Alice in Wonderland to Pete the Cat (or Mother Goose!) might be spotted as children from the Kathy Watson Child Development Learning Lab (CDLL) parade in the CDLL courtyard wearing the costume of a character of their favorite book.
The event has been a tradition at AWC for more than 20 years.
Preschoolers will also go on a campus walk after the parade. The purpose of the parade is to bring to life characters from the children’s favorite stories as they expand their interest in literature. The children are encouraged to use their imagination through dramatic play.
Visitors to the campus may also see ghosts, ghouls and goblins lurking the hallways as Halloween festivities get underway with an office decorating contest from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Shrines to the dead will decorate the 3C Eatery, which is the site of the Day of the Dead display, and handouts and coloring activities will be available for students to decorate.
Each campus club will contribute an altar or shrine, which commemorates the Hispanic holiday. Altars or shrines tend to include colorful candy skulls, paper mache skeletons, Catrina dolls, pictures of deceased relatives, flowers and decorations. Altars will be displayed in the cafeteria for the week of Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.
Halloween evening, from 6 p.m. to 8, students from several activities groups plan to “reverse trick or treat” in local neighborhoods surrounding the college. Instead of asking for a “trick or a treat,” students decked out in their Halloween finery will ask for a canned good that will later be donated to the Yuma Community Food Bank.