By Sara Gomez, November 4, 2025
Associated Students, Inc. held an event this fall semester to celebrate Halloween on campus.
Bronco Fright Fest took place at 8 p.m. Oct. 23. Students living on campus dressed up in costumes to take part in free churros, sugar cookies and an escape room hosted by the Themed Entertainment Association club at Cal Poly Pomona.
“We’ve been planning this since May,” Lance Taningco, an electrical engineering student and ASI activities assistant said. “A lot of it over the summer was just contacting vendors, seeing what different vendors were able to provide their service for the event, and then also organizing all the supplies, such as the pumpkins, painting supplies, and also just working the logistics within ASI itself.”
It was a busy night for ASI as students packed into the Bronco Student Center. They handed each student a map of the second floor after checking in, listing the variety of activities at the event.
From laser tag to painting pumpkins and costume contests, students were knee-deep in Halloween spirit. The first hour of the escape room was the most popular activity.
Theatre students and ASI teamed up to make a pirate-themed escape room filled with live actors, a parrot animatronic and puzzles. The escape room took 30 minutes for each group to complete.
After escaping, students painted pumpkins while they watched Halloween movies like “Hotel Transylvania,” took pictures at the Halloween-themed photobooth or decorated their own sugar cookie while munching on free churros.
Laser tag was the second most popular activity. Students joined orange or green teams and played inside the auditorium glow in the dark style.
Around 9 p.m., the costume contest began. 1st place received a $25 Amazon gift card and runner ups received $5 amazon gift cards. Students decided the winner through a shouting contest. The louder the audience, the closer they were to winning. Visual communications design student Celina Reid’s Clawdeen Wolf from Monster High Series costume won 1st place, and runner-ups wore a Pickle Rick and a dragon costume.
“All of ASI events are great for making connections,” Sara Severova, a music industry studies student and ASI activities assistant, said. “You get to meet a lot of students from Cal Poly. At these events people just want to have fun here, relax and chill from homework and assignments. We make it possible for them to connect through crafts and activities like laser tag, pumpkin painting, or decorating sugar cookies.”
The main purpose of the event was so students get the chance to reconnect and make new friends while also having fun on campus.
When the night ended at 10 p.m., students walked back to their dorms in Halloween costumes.
“There were a lot of different activities tonight,” said computer science student Isabella Hidalgo. “Tonight gave me the chance to relax with friends while also being updated about what’s going on at school and experiencing a new atmosphere.”