Halloween is in full swing at Stanford Residential College. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Stanford Walsh floor 9 won the Residential Leadership Council’s first floor decorating competition, earning themselves a free pizza party.
“I am surprisingly super happy,” said Chika Nwosu, a freshman RLC member and resident of the winning floor. “In college, not many people get into this kind of thing, but I’m happy my floor did. It gives me a sense of pride for my floor; we won together.”
Instead of using scary spider webs and fake blood, floor 9 used satirical humor to set them apart.
Freshman Megan Mikuen, a Walsh floor 9 resident and the brains behind the winning design, created 17 signs that she posted on the study room’s windows.
“I decorated the floor with what I thought to be scariest things to UM students, like winter, BIL150 and the football team’s record,” said Mikuen. “It was my last-minute effort at 11 p.m. when I realized we couldn’t win on scary gore.”
Two weeks prior, the RLC gave each floor’s resident assistant decorating supplies and the rules of the competition. No floors could be disqualified, but any materials used that were not provided would not be counted in judging.
“We didn’t want to do anything too big, but we wanted to celebrate Halloween and inspire some healthy competition between the floors,” said Rohith Edupuganti, a freshman RLC member.
Not only did this promote friendly competition, but according to Mikuen, it also brought the floors closer together.
“I usually don’t spend a lot of time in the study room, so this gave me an opportunity to bond with my floormates,” said Mikuen.
While the RLC doesn’t know if this will become a new tradition, the residents sure hope so.
“I think it’s a great incentive to create a more comfortable living space to brighten up the otherwise plain hallways,” said Mikuen. “I would love to do this again, even around other holidays.”