News
Utica children and families come to campus for Trust Treat
By Noelle Connors ’19
November 3, 2016
Tags news
On Monday, Oct. 31, over 120 children from Utica came to campus as ghosts, superheroes, dinosaurs and many more creative costumes to go trick-or-treating as part of Trust Treat. Around 250 Hamilton students helped put on this event by hosting haunted houses and candy stops, or by leading children from stop to stop as tour guides throughout the night.
The Trust Treat event began in 1993 to honor Eric Trust, who died on Halloween in 1992 during his first year at Hamilton due to a health complication. Since then, the Hamilton College Newman Council has organized this event to honor him by creating a safe place for children from Utica to come to Trick-or-Treat. The Thea Bowman House in Utica sent over 120 children and chaperones this year to celebrate Halloween at Hamilton, making it the largest Trust Treat yet. As Kate Bushell ’17 and a representative of the Newman Council said, “This amazing showing was appropriate since the Trust Family was on campus this weekend for a basketball alumni gathering. While here, they promised that they would forever support Trust Treat, because they know it is something Eric would have loved.”
From 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Monday, 45 tour guides lead groups of children to 30 candy stops and 2 haunted houses. One of the most popular stops was at the President’s Office, where President David Wippman greeted trick-or-treaters accompanied by Alex the mascot. The Chemistry Department also put on an exciting science show for their haunted house which all of the children loved. Several clubs, fraternities and sororities, residence halls, sports teams and friend groups hosted candy stops to help the children have fun trick-or-treating.
Lilly Yangchen ’20 described her experience at Trust Treat, saying, “It was my first time volunteering for Trust Treat and I had a lot of fun taking my three little superheroes trick-or-treating around campus. It was heartwarming to see their faces light up as their bags filled up with fancy candies. My happiest feeling was knowing that the children were having a great time throughout the tour. I had my moment of joy when some of them came up to hug us before leaving. I am definitely doing this again next year because I had such an amazing experience!”
Christina Plakas ’19 recalls, “ it was a wonderful experience and some kids even came up to hug us so it was nice to know that we could give them a Halloween to remember!” Other students enjoyed the opportunity to embrace the holiday spirit. Hayley Berliner ’19 says, “It was fun to get into the Halloween spirit by dressing up and decorating the room with ghosts.” For Hamilton students who have fond memories of trick-or-treating as kids, Trust Treat is a great opportunity to pass on that fun to younger kids from Utica.
By embracing Hamilton students’ enthusiasm for Halloween, Trust Treat helps children from Utica have a safe and memorable trick-or-treating experience.