ZBT makes frat house haunted

For fraternity Zeta Beta Tau, Halloween is about community as well as candy and costumes.

This past Friday marked ZBT’s first Halloween-themed philanthropy event. The idea behind the event, which took place in the fraternity’s on-campus house, was to provide the children of West Philadelphia with a fun and safe Halloween experience.

Around 50 students from Drew Elementary School, varying from ages five to 12, took part in the Halloween celebration. Students participated in a number of Halloween-themed activities, all of which took place inside the fraternity, including a haunted house, a relay race, musical chairs, a scavenger hunt and pumpkin-painting.

A brain-child of ZBT President and Penn junior Joe Schinco, the event was a collaboration between the fraternity and the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. According to ZBT’s co-philanthropy chair and College sophomore Jack Tirone, the two worked together with Drew Elementary School to organize the event.

Though the Netter Center contributed to the organization of the event, the fraternity brothers themselves set everything up — from the orange and black streamers strung across the ceilings to the haunted house on the second floor, which, according to the second-graders was “absolutely terrifying.”

The energy and enthusiasm of the brothers matched that of the children, who were “really really excited” to be there, according to Jamiya, a second-grader at the Drew School. Jamiya’s sentiment was echoed by the laughter ringing through the halls of the ZBT house.

Tirone deemed the event a success and expressed the desire to host another Halloween event next fall.

Schinco agreed, adding that, “I’m going to try and make this happen every year.”

Indeed, under Schinco’s leadership, ZBT is moving toward prioritizing philanthropic pursuits.

“I’m trying to making it a part of what we do,” he said of his goals for the fraternity.

And with an upcoming Blood Drive on Dec. 8 and plans for a “Car Smash” fundraiser — in which participants pay to hit an car with a hammer — ZBT is well on its way to achieving that goal.

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