The student Homecoming Committee chose a new philanthropy event called Trunk-or-Treat to be hosted on Halloween day for this year’s annual Homecoming Week.

The first ever Trunk-or-Treat will start at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31. The purpose of the event is to invite local elementary school students to participate in Trick-or-Treating on campus. Instead of the traditional door-to-door Trick-or-Treating, the students will take candy from vehicle trunks hosted by different Nicholls State University organizations.

“This is good to get the elementary students who will be looking at colleges in the future to experience Nicholls campus at a young age. They can get an early start with Nicholls,” said Student Government Association President Adam Lefort, who is on the 2014 Homecoming Committee.

The event will take place in the back parking lot of the student union, and any organization of Nicholls can volunteer to set up a booth with candy or activities for the children. The organizations are thrilled and encouraged to be involved with this event, and there will be plenty of entertainment for children to enjoy. There will also be a possible competition between each organization of which one has the best decorations.

Starting this week, emails will be sent to Max Charter School, Generations Teaching Generations, South Thibodaux Elementary, Thibodaux Elementary and Bayou Community Academy. Only these schools can go to the event, as well as children of Nicholls faculty.

Lefort said he thinks the student homecoming philanthropy event will help reach out and bring excitement to the community by helping the schools gain Nicholls experience.

After Trunk-or-Treat, the kids will be given a chance to attend the haunted house with lights on to make it less scary, starting at 5 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., the lights will be turned off for Nicholls students.

Lefort and the whole homecoming committee think Trunk-or-Treat is a great idea because it is a fun activity the younger students can actually be involved in. He said that not only is it a fun activity, but it is also a great service to the community which he said might not be a top priority to other schools as it is to Nicholls.

President of the Nicholls State Veterans Organization and a member of the homecoming committee Amy Delatte initiated the idea because while in the Marine Corps, she and her unites would do an activity similar to Trunk-or-Treat. She feels this event will get the elementary students involved with Nicholls.

In the past, the Homecoming Committee has done activities such as Paint the Town Red and food drives.
Delatte said she hopes Trunk-or-Treat becomes an annual event for Nicholls, even though Homecoming Week will not be during Halloween every year.

“I think getting children to see what Nicholls is like is great, and I hope this will turn out to be the start of a new tradition,” said Delatte.