LGBTQ+ History Month at Baruch College came to a close when the Office of Student life, the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Spectrum club and the Baruch Undergraduate Student Government came together on Oct. 31 to host the annual Fright Night in the multipurpose room of the Newman Vertical Campus.

Fright Night is something that’s been part of the undergraduate student group for many years, so every year they put on this Fright NightHalloween event,” Talia Gurstel, the assistant director of student activities from the Office of Student Life, said.

“This year, we’re partnering with USG, we are able to make it a bigger experience in getting more students involved. It’s kind of a historic event now at Baruch, so for years, they’ve been doing it.”

Students were able to enjoy the event with food and music.There was a diversity of students simply making conversation with one another at the round tables, making the event more social as a result. USG provided students with a variety of food, mainly different variations of chicken. There was also a candy table set up, where students could take different bags of candy.

WBMB Radio provided music to lighten up the room, including different genres such as hip-hop, rap, R&B soul, pop and others. Max Perez, a sophomore majoring in entrepreneurship management, said he felt pleased with what G.L.A.S.S. had to offer.

“I think this event perfectly satisfies my expectations,” Perez said.

Organizing the event took a lot more work than expected, according to Gurstel and Cassandra Castelant, president of G.L.A.S.S. 

“It was a lot,” Castelant said. “There was individual table decorations, it was setting up the food table, it was packaging all the water bottles, we had at least 15 different decorations [hung] up, [made] sure the lights were plugged in, and making sure WBMB had a station for themselves.”

“Specifically, for this event, every week we would talk about what we would want to have at this event,” Gurstel added.

“Leading up to it, Cassandra took on a leading role and she oversaw all the parts of the event. We ordered the candy, all the giveaways, and all the food. In the last few weeks, after USG paired with us, they helped us put on this event.”

Students were encouraged to “costume up” and wear costumes of their choosing to freely express themselves. Students came dressed up at hospital nurses, police officers and cheerleaders, among other things.

Freshmen Christopher Bivona-Maldonado, who was dressed as a cheerleader, had a lot to say about how Fright Night left an impact on him.

“I had such a perfect costume, I just didn’t want to waste it,” Bivona-Maldonado said.

“I don’t want to go home and just do nothing. I’m broke, so I really can’t pay $20 to go to a party. I do not have that kind of money, I drained down my wallet. So, I figured, just come to the Baruch party and have some fun, why not?”

Attendees were given the chance to take free water bottles and free glow sticks as giveaways, which helped popularize the event. 

Although it was the collaboration between different organizations that helped give birth to Fright Night, it was the effort of USG that helped enrich the event and allowed the night to fly by with ease.

“My committee is the one that is in charge with promoting student’s health and wellness. We believe that helping with events like this, where students get together and communicate and socialize, it plays a big part in us trying to promote student life,” said Tony Chen, vice president of student affairs in USG. Castelant explained how the celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month all month long fit seamlessly with the theme of Halloween for the night.

“The whole idea of Halloween is to put on a mask, to disguise your facial identity but reveal who you really are inside,” she said.

“That’s kind of how coming out in the essence of an LGBTQ person in America feels like. It always feels like a slight-of-hand trick, of you putting on different personas in the workplace, your family members, your friends.”

Castelant added, “You sometimes feel like you have to hide some different part of yourself, and Halloween, everyone’s hiding. You feel more free to be expressed and be the kind of person you are.”