The Southern Miss Hattiesburg Campus recently embraced Halloween on October 25 as it welcomed children for the Kids Halloween Carnival. Hosted by Southern Miss Activities Council (SMAC), the event offered kids of all ages the chance to visit campus for treats and fun.
Brishell Gray, SMAC events director, discussed the purposes of having events like this on campus.
“Our kid’s carnival allows community engagement by allowing student leaders, campus organizations, and campus resource services, to set up and treat children and families of the community,” Gray said. “SMAC is honored to host this event in celebration of Halloween and getting the community together for fun and free treats.”
The event lasted from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.. And it gave kids the opportunity to come dressed in their favorite Halloween costumes to enjoy the many fun activities. Some of those activities included bouncy houses, yard games, music, and even face painting as well.
“Looking around, we have all our babies in the community out here and their parents and some of their family members,” Gray said. “And I feel like it was a good way to bring out a lot of our USM campus community.”
Where there is Halloween, there is also candy. And there were plenty of sweet treats for children and parents to indulge.
Alongside SMAC, there were at least 13 organizations that were set up there to support the guests at the event.
Towards the end of the event, there was a costume contest for the cutest and most creative costume. And SMAC members were the judges for the costumes contest.
Chloe Well, a citizen of Hattiesburg, states that she really enjoys the events SMAC brings out here for the community.
“I always enjoy this event because it’s a good time for all the younger kids to come to the event,” Well said. “And I am definitely having a lot of fun and SMAC definitely needs to do more events.”
The Kids Halloween Carnival is an annual event for SMAC and is always hosted in the fall, near Halloween. And SMAC is expected to continue this tradition for years to come.
SMAC enhances the college experience for all Southern Miss students by focusing on diverse and inclusive events to increase retention rates at the university.
The process to become a member of SMAC begins each spring with a Membership Drive in March and group and individual interviews in April for choice of the membership for the next academic year.
If you would like to get a feel for what SMAC does and remain updated with future events, keep up with SMAC, go on their social media pages @usm_smac.
