With school in session, many are looking ahead to the next holiday, Halloween, including Clarkston High School teacher Laura Kalinowski.
She is looking for Halloween enthusiasts in grades 6-12 who want to participate in the Haunted House Design Challenge.
The kickoff meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 15 at Clarkston High School’s LGI, from 6-8 p.m. Students will learn about rules of the competition, and the creator of Erebus Haunted House in Pontiac will be there as well.
Each week, teams will attend seminar sessions to learn about monster makeup from the Michigan Makeup Academy, how to turn foam into wood or stone, and other topics.
“We are trying to build each week a part of the Haunted House at the end,” Kalinowski explained. “They take it back to the team and they convert what they learned into what their team needs.”
The teams can choose themes such as alien invasion, zombies from ‘The Walking Dead,? or a scary science experiment.
She added ideally teams should be 5-10 students because it’s takes a lot of people for a haunted house to come together, including actors and people behind the scenes as well as making all the props.
“There are a lot of behind the scenes we aren’t aware of while we are walking through them,” she added.
The idea for the haunted house challenge came about when she was thinking of ways to incorporate more engineering with kids to get them excited about the subject and building things.
“I think there is a stigma attached to engineering and so many students I run across in the hallways will say they don’t know what engineering is,” she said. “I was trying to figure out what would be a good jumping block for those kids that maybe understand the different areas engineering has to offer.”
The community can help out by donating oscillating fans, red Christmas lights, animated stuffed toys and cat litter tubs with lids, all for use as props. They can be dropped off at the high school.
The haunted house will be at Sashabaw Middle School, Saturday, Oct. 24 from 6-8 p.m. During the viewing, families and the community can vote for their favorite. The winning team will receive prizes which were donated from various prop companies and businesses in the community.
Visit www.facebook.com/Haunteddesigns.