Fire, explosions, fog and everything else you would want for a Halloween party are a staple at one of Kent State’s largest Halloween events on campus. For one night, Chem-O-Ween provides science and a show to everyone in attendance.
Kent State Today interviewed a couple of the ingredients needed to brew this continued College of Science and Humanities Halloween tradition.
Chem-O-Ween starts with Zachary Boggs, the senior academic laboratory manager, with the help of this stockroom staff. Boggs dresses up as Beetlejuice every year, in reference to alumnus Michael Keaton, and embraces the mindset of a mad scientist for the event.
This year, on Oct. 23, 400 people came to campus, which is a credit to Boggs and his team. Getting ready for the event is no easy task, requiring not only time to decorate but months to develop the plot and experiments.
“We here in the stockroom start working on this in about March. We work about seven months out of the year for this one night,” Boggs said. “We go through probably over 100 rehearsals for this evening because we have one night to get it right.”
Regarding the decorations, classes take place in the building through Thursday, which means a rush overnight to get the Halloween spirit in place. In another demonstration of this passion project, Boggs also provides most of the decorations to make it the best it can be.
To keep the event fresh, there are new plots and demonstrations developed every year, which means continued innovation. This year's theme included a murder mystery that was tied into the experiments.
“Bringing people onto campus is one of the greatest things, and we really want to show people what we do here,” Boggs said. “Some of the demonstrations that we do are developed here. This year, we're debuting three, so we try to embody that spirit of being an R1 institution.”
These demonstrations are having a direct impact on the people who attend the event, including one of the student managers who went during her first semester.
“I fell in love with the event and knew right away that I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to be among the people making a difference in the community,” Grace Dorfi said. “This year will be my second time being part of the event. I've loved every second of it, it has been one of the highlights of my life as a college student.”
Dorfi is a junior majoring in molecular biology with minors in chemistry and public health; she is also in the Honors College. Working in the labs made her realize her enjoyment of chemistry and led her to pick up the minor; her experience with Chem-O-Ween was a large influence on that decision too.
“One thing I'm really excited about tonight is looking out at the audience while doing my demonstrations and seeing the looks on everybody's faces. They're always astonished to see somebody in their early 20s being able to do all these things,” Dorfi said. “I feel like I can inspire future scientists to come and do things like this, engage in their passions, and hopefully find a new one if they haven't already.”
Adam Zielinski, a junior majoring in chemistry, is assisting with the event for the first time this year but attended last year. After he declared his major, he was looking for the right job to expand his experience; the stockroom was at the top of his list.
The position has given him opportunities to meet professors, work with teaching assistants and work with department heads. This job has also given him further insight and appreciation for the behind-the-scenes work of campuswide events.
“After working on it for so long and putting in so much effort, it has really helped create a whole new perspective on what we can do and how much work all the events here at Kent State take,” Zielinski said.
The event seems to be worth it with hundreds attending every year; one of the aspects of that is the fun energy and positivity behind Chem-O-Ween.
“We want to make science and chemistry more fun. We want to take away some of the fear of being in a classroom and focus on the positives, what you can take away from it, and what you can learn,” Zielinski said on community events.
There can be a stigma that science is daunting or can be harder to approach. The stockroom staff all reiterated how important it is to change that mindset. Having an open-house style event gives guests an easy approach to see what students are working on during the semester.
“It's really cool to bring different people here to showcase what we've learned and developed, all the effort and time we've put in,” Zielinski said. “I have a lot of friends who haven't taken any college science classes or maybe haven't taken one in a few years. Having them come and see what I work on all day is rewarding in a way.”
Hundreds of rehearsals create tight bonds, and the team’s experience together is one to remember.
“My favorite part is honestly the tight-knit group of people that can form in your classes, in a lab, or especially here in the stockroom. All of us have formed friendships with each other because of this job, especially because of Chem-O-Ween,” Dorfi said.
Their energy and excitement show, and firsthand exposure to the department like this is a great introduction to what Kent State has to offer. Community events like this are crucial for that reason and can open the eyes of potential scientists.
“The biggest takeaway that I hope comes from this is that science can be done by anyone,” Boggs said. “When I was in college, I didn't start out in a science field at all. That was not where I thought I was going, and I've always wanted to make science approachable to anyone and show that anybody out there can do science.”
