Fall Fun
Written by Aaron Andrews
Hillsdale’s campus is a great place to be in the fall. The high-arching oaks and maples explode in a kaleidoscope of red and orange and yellow. This warmth in color is accentuated by the fresh chill of the fall breeze, which blows up the hill and turns students to thoughts of cider and doughnuts. Here are some events that take advantage of all the fall fun to be had here on campus.
Neidfall
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as lobotomizing giant orange globular fruits, especially when you can do so while sipping cider and downing doughnuts. Swing by Niedfelt for all the aforementioned fun at Neidfall, the Niedfeldt fall philanthropy event! Come carve a pumpkin for five dollars and help support families in the Hillsdale community. All proceeds go to The Salvation Army.
Fall Fest
Every fall the Student Activities Board hosts a pumpkin-carving, doughnut-eating, cider-drinking party on the quad. Get outside and enjoy the brisk breeze, the rustling leaves, and all the sights and sounds of a fall season the likes of which can only be found at Hillsdale. This event is open to all comers. Feel free to come and go as you please!
Cemetery Walk
Take a tour of the historic Oak Grove Cemetery. Every October, Public Service Librarian and College Archivist Linda Moore guides groups of students through the graveyard. Who knows what you’ll find as you walk among the gravestones? Excitement and education lurk among these pillars of the past.
Trick or Treat!
College students spend most of their time in the adult world. It’s rare that they get a chance to see a child, let alone give a child candy. But every Halloween, faculty and staff take their children trick-or-treating in the dorms. Children dressed in adorable costumes roam from hall to hall, and for a brief, cathartic moment, residents are reminded of a simpler time—a time when they too wanted nothing more than candy.
Simpson Asylum
Simpson is a nice dorm. The people are fun, the lounges are comfortable, the whole atmosphere is light-hearted and joyful. But once a year, this dorm undergoes a bone-chilling metamorphosis that could drive you mad. The lights flicker, and the halls grow dark. The walls grow grasping arms and knotted fingers. Stay close to your guide on this terrifying tour, as each cell of this asylum holds a unique horror.
The Zombie Run
Run for your life! Every year on Halloween weekend, a fog settles on Hayden Park. Dogs bark, wolves bay at the moon, and some unnatural horror sifts through the woods. The dead live again! Volunteer to dress as a zombie and lurk through the woods, or join Campus Rec in their blood-curdling cross country jaunt. Prizes go to the winner and to the best dressed corpse.
Aaron Andrews, ’18, is studying English, Latin, and whatever else crosses his fancy. He spends his summers in northeastern Washington, rural Stevens Country, the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where he goes for weeks on end with no internet. He spends his free time photographing local herds of cattle, and frolicking in Washington’s famous amber waves of grain.