Halloween: That bewitching time of year when the streets are crowded with witches, goblins, ghosts, demons and – public relations students.

This weekend at Geauga Lake’s “Halloween Haunt,” Kent State’s Public Relations Student Society of America held their second fundraiser, dressing up and haunting sections of the park.

“It’s a fundraising effort that not only allows us to do something fun and different, but it gives us a chance to get to know each other outside of class and meetings,” PRSSA President Elaine Laps said.

Over the past two weekends, PRSSA has managed to draw enough students to the event to raise a total of $750 so far, an accomplishment that Laps describes as “a good deal of money for not a lot of work.”

Vice President of PRSSA Carli Cichocki said most of the money raised from fundraising events helps the Kent chapter of PRSSA host networking events, where students can speak with area professionals to learn more about the field and establish relationships to earn internships and jobs in public relations.

Laps said that, at the conference venue, there are seminars and breakout sessions about different areas of public relations including media relations, crisis management, PR in health care, sports PR, interviewing skills and resume workshops.

“Each year we raise funds for our PRSSA programs, our scholarship and networking activities with PRSSA Akron and PRSSA Cleveland,” Laps said. The recent fundraisers will go directly toward helping students pay to attend a conference this weekend in Miami, Fla.

“It brings all the PR people in America together for a weekend, so if you want to meet someone new in the industry, it’s really the place to go,” Laps said.

Each year the conference is held in a different city in the United States and tailored to the culture of that city. This year’s conference in Miami will have a strong Latin culture theme and will allow students to learn about the PR industry in Miami, Laps said.

Laps said the bar is set this year at $5,000 for total fundraising efforts, $2,300 of which Cichocki said has already come from the raffle organized for Journalism and Mass Communication’s Homecoming Brunch.

“PRSSA hopes to reimburse some of the cost of the conference by using money from fundraising events,” Cichocki said.

Laps said that 30 people from various colleges within the university will help out at “Halloween Haunt” this weekend.

“A lot of PRSSA members have their friends and roommates come along for the fun,” Laps said.

Contact student media reporter Kenny Peris at [email protected].