In celebration of the spookiest time of the year, UWATX’s Young Leaders Society (YLS) members volunteered at Decker Middle School’s Fright Night last week. Fright Night, one of Decker’s most popular student events, allows students to use their creativity while coordinating with YLS volunteers to transform the school into a “haunted house”. Volunteers helped set up, scared students as they moved through the haunted house and took photos of the students for souvenirs. Fright Night helps sponsor the AVID program at Decker Middle School, which gives students the opportunities to attend field trips to college campuses and provides in class activities around career and college readiness. We had the opportunity to talk with Julie Fisher, YLS Chair, about her volunteering experience the Fright Night event.
What were some of the activities you were involved in during Fright Night?
I was involved with set up, setting the kids in waves down the stairwell and cleanup/breakdown.
Describe your favorite part of the night
Watching the kids give each other pep talks before going into the Haunted House. The event itself is always a blast, but I love the set up and break down with the students. It is a great opportunity to interact with them and give them a chance to give us the orders on how to set up the different rooms and halls. It was encouraging to see how excited they were after they received such positive feedback from their peers on how “awesome” the experience was.
What do you enjoy the most about getting to interact with the students in UWATX’s Middle School Matters Program?
Seeing the students work together to achieve a common goal of improving the overall quality of their school. After the students participate a couple years in the program, you can truly see the investment made and how committed they are. A student that use to be in the Decker program the past couple of years and is now in high school was present at the event. When I asked him what he was doing there, he said, “I came back here to see what I started.” — how awesome is that?!?! He acted as a great leader throughout the night.
What motivates you to volunteer at YLS events?
The opportunity to impact students who may not have this opportunity otherwise. The students at each campus are so awesome and so happy to see you every time you visit. I also appreciate that each opportunity is thoughtfully organized and each individual is utilized and has a task. Shout-out to the Hands on Central Texas team for creating great projects with the students!