Late @ Lane

By: Dylan Scherpf

From 10pm last night to 2am this morning, Frostburg State University hosted its second ever Late @ Lane event, a new program focused on providing students with an alternative to off-campus partying, where alcohol is typically involved. Last month’s casino themed event brought in more than 1100 students, a good sign for the continuation of the program. Last night’s turnout can easily be expected to match that.

With the holiday only three days away, the theme for the October event was, of course, Halloween. Many students, excited to show off their Halloween spirit, arrived dressed up as zombies, witches, super heroes, cartoon and anime characters, and various masked figures. The work put into individual costumes ranged from the cat girl with face paint, a mane, and a full cat-body suit to the guys wearing only the standard Halloween masks with regular clothes. Of course, there were many who chose not to dress up and were allowed in nonetheless.

The Lane Center itself, usually well-lit, was transformed, appropriately, into a dark scene. Every section of the building was decked out with cobwebs, spiders, skeletons, and the occasional dark figure that may or may not have been a real person. For the most part, each part of the building also had a different activity for the students. A short haunted house was set up in the Atkinson Room, where dark masked figures would jump out at passing students while they were preoccupied with the electronic screaming witches and mental patients. Meanwhile, psychics and tarot card readers were set up in the South Addition while Svet, a hip-hop violinist/music producer/ singer, preformed right next door in the Lane University Center Loft. Down in the Alice R. Manicur Assemble Hall, or ARMAH, the Halloween Dance was held throughout the night, stopping only for the costume contest at 12:30am. A number of more hands-on activities were also available. In different areas of the Lane Center students could make candy apples, street signs, license plates, wax hands, and dry erase boards. Despite all this, senior Gavin Pereira was not impressed. “I feel like this time they didn’t have as many activities. Like last time they had the magician and comedian.”  Refreshments were offered throughout the night too, while food opened up at midnight in the back of the ARMAH with sampler sized portions of macaroni and cheese, chili, chicken pot pie, and pumpkin pie, all free. Cory Proctor, dressed as “Dreamcast Man” (which was just a shirt with the Dreamcast logo), commented that “the food looked suspicious because it was in a dark room, but it was still good.” His opinion seemed to be a common one, as the line for food went down and halfway back up the hallway next to the game room.

With so much going on, the Late @ Lane staff was still on top of things all night. Each entrance had a security checkpoint complete with metal detectors and campus I.D. scanners. Several campus police officers also kept watch throughout the night to ensure that things went smoothly. Many yellow-shirted Late @ Lane staff members were also stationed around the building to provide assistance or answers to any students in need. One staff member, Antwann Harper, was even offering extra tickets for the prize drawing to students who completed a quick survey for him. “It helps just to see what they could do better,” Antwann said, “and to see what else you would be doing instead.” The school hopes to use this information to improve its future Late @ Lane events, which will take place once a month.