REACT (Reality Even Affects Clinton Teens) is run by Ben Eaves and the club, although changes often, meet in the Cafeteria on Tuesdays at 7. They met for their second to last meeting before the haunted hallways event on Tuesday October 22nd at the cafeteria.
During the beginning of the year, the club spends most of their time planning Haunted Hallways.Ben leads the group to talk about who is going to be set up in which hallways, what they are going to do, and everything relating to how the night is going to go. Many students participate in the conversations and the actual club is very hands on with the students. Around 30 students come for every meeting, which makes it easy to plan and brainstorm ideas. Before the night of Haunted Hallways, students show up for 2 hours in the morning and then come back at around 4 p.m. to begin the set up.
REACT does an annual Halloween celebration inside the hallways of the Morgan school, called Haunted Hallways. Haunted Hallways is a tradition that started in 2010. Every year, a new theme is chosen by popular vote at the meetings after members brainstorm ideas. The theme last year was Circus, and this year’s theme is Fairy Tales. The individual hallway themes will be Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Alice in Wonderland. The point of the night is to collect money and to scare the people walking through the hallways.
Senior, Jason Mansfield, is a hallway leader, a position that includes managing the jobs of roles of the hallway and controlling how the night goes. He will be taking on the biggest hallway with seniors, Gabriella Navarra and Liliana Novicki. ‘I think haunted hallways is a great way to bring the community together. We all have so much fun with it every year. I can’t wait to see how this year is going to turn out,” said Mansfield.
Navarra has been in REACT for two years and has always enjoyed the process and the night of Haunted Hallways. “Haunted Hallways is a fun experience for all grades and a great opportunity for underclassmen to become friends with upperclassmen and vice versa. I have made lifelong friends from Haunted Hallways and am excited to make more this year,” said Navarra.
Navarra works well with everyone, including Novicki, one of her other hallway leaders. “Haunted hallways is a way to hang out with everyone and be a part of a group who wants to create this special event. We all have so much fun setting up and brainstorming every hallway together, and I am ecstatic to work with Gabi and Jason this year in the same hallway, along with my other friends” said Novicki. “I think this year is going to be one of the best because we have good ideas and good themes for the hallways.”
REACT has always been an outlet for the community. Not only do they do good work for the community, but they help all around America, sometimes traveling outside of Connecticut. Junior, Whittney Treubig has been an active member of REACT for six years and had the opportunity of a lifetime during this club. She had the ability to talk to people in the House of Representatives in Washington DC. “Traveling with React has opened a lot of opportunities for me to learn new leadership styles and meet new people around the country” said Whitney.
This year Haunted Hallways will be held on Saturday, November 2nd and the fee to enter the building is $5 per person. The doors will open and allow people to enter at 6:30 p.m.
