Paige Dangerfield is the Steering Head for the Escort Committee for 2014 Project Pumpkin. Project Pumpkin is this Wednesday, October 29th — TOMORROW! — from 3 – 6 p.m. Paige is originally from Austin, Texas and attended high school in both El Salvador and Malaysia. Paige chose Wake on a whim and couldn’t be happier. Paige is a senior here at Wake and is a finance major and Spanish minor.
HC: Tell us all about Project Pumpkin… anything new this year?
PD: Project Pumpkin is an annual student-led event that brings over 900 children from local schools in the Winston-Salem community to Wake in order to provide them with a safe environment to trick-or-treat here on campus. This year’s theme is Space Jam! The upper quad will be decorated with Space Jam inspired decorations and we will be having a basketball court, dizzy bat and other types of games in the center of the quad. This year, student athletes are going to play these games with the kids on the quad throughout the event. There will also be various performances throughout the event by Chi Rho, Momentum Crew, Demon Divas, Innuendo, and the cheer and dance team just to name a few.
HC: What has been your role in Project Pumpkin?
PD: I am the Steering Head for the Escort Committee so I am in charge of organizing and training the student volunteers that will be matched up with the children on the day of the event. So far so good! It is a lot more time consuming being the Steering head than I initially thought, but we have a great group of people working together this year so we are getting through it together! I really like being in charge of the student volunteers because I get to have a distinct impact on the event, but that comes with a lot of pressure.
HC: Any challenges that have arisen?
PD: This year, one of the most challenging tasks was to come up with a check-in process that would eliminate the majority of the escort waiting time. It’s hard because we have over 450 escorts and 900 children all congregating in one location and the logistics need to be clear cut so that everything runs smoothly. Overall, I think we have come up with a good system for the day of the event. Dealing with the students who may become annoyed that they have waited for so long to get their kids can also be a challenge but hopefully that won’t happen as much this year!
HC: What’s your favorite part about Project Pumpkin?
PD: My favorite part of Project Pumpkin is seeing the kids come back from the upper quad with their escorts and seeing how happy both the child and the student volunteer are. Although the escort and child may initially be impatient as they wait to get checked-in and get onto the quad, when they come back from their time on the quad they are always super happy and hardly ever have any complaints. Although the event is super hectic for the committee members as we try to make sure the event goes on without a glitch, seeing that is what makes all the chaos and planning of the event worth it.
HC: What’s the general reaction of the kids, parents, faculty and students to Project Pumpkin?
PD: All of the faculty has been extremely supportive of the event. All of the committee members and steering heads miss most of their classes the day of and the faculty at Wake could not be more understanding of it. We actually have some faculty members and Fellows that help us out on the day of the event checking people in and making sure everything runs smoothly. I have never seen a kid coming back from the quad that doesn’t have a smile on his/ her face. They get dressed up in their costumes and are always super ecstatic about the event. The students are also super supportive. This year we have over 450 student escort volunteers helping out with the kids which is awesome. We really rely on them to be our eyes and ears out on the quad and they all do such a good job! All the booths on the quad are also all student led and some of the fraternities open up their lounges and have haunted houses for the kids.
Be sure to stop by Project Pumpkin TOMORROW between 3 and 6 p.m. to witness the magic!