The smell of Pumpkin Spice Lattes is adrift in the ZSR air and that can only mean one thing: Fall in the Forest. If the changing leaves weren’t enough to get you in the mood for Res Life to finally turn up our heaters, set your dials to philanthropy for the Halloween Scoop on everyone’s favorite fall event: Project Pumpkin. For details from the source we went to Mariana Linares, this year’s co-Head Pumpkin.
If you haven’t seen Mariana on the sidelines of the football field with the Wake Forest Dance Team, you may recognize this Orlando native and Math Business major from her wide range of campus activities. Mariana is a member of Delta Zeta sorority, she was co-chair of Panhellenic Council’s Circle of Sisterhood Week, she is a part of PREPARE, and she is on the executive committee of Wake ‘N Shake- more on that in the spring. She’s seen all sides of Project Pumpkin- from being an escort and working a booth for the Dance Team her freshman year, to publicity and outreach co-chair as a sophomore, to steering committee as a junior for fundraising and t-shirt design, and this year, her final year, with Head-Pumpkin responsibilities ranging from Publicity and social media to quad operations and campus engagement.
Growing up in Orlando, for Mariana, Halloween was all Disney all the time. “I think I dressed up as every Disney princess… ever,” joked Linares. “My favorite costume of all time was the year I was Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story, the yarn wig couldn’t be beat.” Anything to get some of her Halloween favorites, Reese’s and Nerds! And, although she may not be trick-or-treating this year, Mariana still celebrated in style. “Over fall break, I watched all four of the Halloweentown movies for Halloween.” Her costume this year? Krispy Kreme- complete with donut holes to share. But, for Project Pumpkin, you might’ve seen her running around in a onesie with the rest of the steering committee.
This year’s event had record-breaking student involvement with over 100 booths. With two head pumpkins this year instead of just one, the work was easier to split up and manage, making for smooth and efficient pre-planning with stellar efforts from the steering committee and plenty of social media hype throughout the preparation process. And one of the most widely renowned parts of that planning? The theme!
This year, after collective brainstorming from six steering committee members, 26 co-chairs, and two Head Pumpkins, it was Heroes vs. Villains that came out on top; cue marvel-ous comic book bubbles of pop’s and bam’s and plenty of streamers blowing in the wind to make the quad trees look like they were wearing capes. The quad was divided into heroes and villains with booths lining the outer circle and some through the center, and some fun surprises on the side like a donut truck in Poteat Circle that gave free donuts to all the kids there. Other fun surprises included performances from a local dance school and a hay ride in Davis Circle. And the best part of all these tricks and treats? Project Pumpkin benefits the Winston Salem community. Elementary School-aged kids are bussed in from all over the county at no cost to them for some safe Halloween fun.
Project Pumpkin has been an important part of Mariana’s Wake Forest Experience. Her favorite moment? “During my sophomore year, we were rained out and had to set up in the old gym instead of the quad. I was in charge of getting kids into and out of the building, and at one point, I was stuck in a classroom with 20 very excited kids. Plead the Fifth popped in just as things were getting loud and sang ‘Ghost Busters.’ I’ll never forget it!” Next year will be the 30th Anniversary of Project Pumpkin, and Mariana hopes future leadership will make it a big one. “My hope is that in the future, Project Pumpkin will become an outlet for Wake to be more involved in the Winston-Salem community by implementing tutoring programs for the month of October or finding other ways for students to be involved in the community for more than just one day.”
Photos courtesy of: Mariana Linares