(L to R) Director of Equal Access and Campus Community Ann Sherman-White ’06 , Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator Amanda Green ’16, Gia Delcogliano, and Beach volleyball coach Jade Hayes Antolik at Trunk-or-Treat. Photos by Ana Lense ’28
In the evening on Oct. 24 at Eckerd College’s North Field, more than 100 kids attended the first ever Eckerd College Athletics trunk-or-treat event, which featured 28 cars.
To celebrate past Halloweens, the athletics department sponsored one or two cars at a local school or community’s trunk-or-treat. Trunk-or-treats provide a single area where families and friends can easily gather to create a secure, relaxed and entertaining environment for those involved.
But this year Assistant Athletic Director, Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator Amanda Green ’16 had an idea of Eckerd’s own sponsored trunk-or-treat. Green shed a light into how the event came to fruition.
Generating engagement was essential for the event to succeed, leading Green to use different outreach methods to invite families to participate. Part of the outreach method came from the students.
Softball players Lex Difato and Molly Scott pose with their trunk at the Eckerd Athletics Trunk-or-Treat.
Junior Kailini Casazza, a biology major from Estero, Florida, and pre-med senior Morgan Wright from Sandor, Florida, both on Eckerd’s women’s soccer team and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee community engagement chairs, called and delivered flyers to local elementary schools.
Other coaches involved called and reached out to the families whose child participated in Eckerd’s previous summer camps. Green emphasized how their ability to spread the word through campus and community connections aided in the success of this event.
Green also cited the support from Director of Equal Access and Campus Community Ann Sherman-White ’06 in Student Success.
A shark greets trick-or-treaters at the Eckerd Athletics Trunk-or-Treat.
“It was all Amanda Green’s idea,” Sherman-White ’06 said. “At the Unity Center we had trunk-or-treat before and we were able to be a reference point for athletics.”
Sherman-White ’06 shared that several cars were sponsored from the unity center, and student ELS ambassadors were able to support Eckerd’s athletics and two participating elementary schools.
“I enjoyed this event because part of our work is to create and support the surrounding community’s events like this trunk-or-treat,” Sherman-White ’06 concluded.
Additional cars and candies provided for the trunk-or-treat came from: athletic teams, faculty, staff members and other student clubs and organizations.
Green discussed how “creating this space was really special.” She remarked how from their efforts they “were able to provide a fun, safe environment where children and families could make memories while also experiencing our campus and an Eckerd women’s soccer game.”
The game was against Palm Beach Atlantic, which Eckerd won 3-0 to secure an unbeaten conference for the first time in the College’s women’s soccer program’s history.
The Trunk-or-Treat welcomed local community members onto the Eckerd campus.
The trunk-or-treat had exposed families who had never visited the campus before to a welcoming experience. Green commented how the response and turn-out was overwhelmingly positive, even with the promise of families coming back next year.
“The enthusiasm made it clear that there is an opportunity to build on this event and make it an annual tradition,” Green reported.
Since it was the first year the event was kept to trick-or-treating and a prize for the best decorated car, but Green hopes to add and expand on this new tradition in subsequent years.
“It’s important for Eckerd to create opportunities for the surrounding community to connect with our campus in ways that are welcoming and accessible,” said Green.
