Skip to main content
Home
Rockhurst Small Logo
light blue background Search Icon
mobile menu
  • ADMISSIONS
  • ACADEMICS
  • CAMPUS LIFE
  • ALUMNI
  • ATHLETICS
  • ABOUT
  • Apply
  • Visit
  • Give
  • Apply
  • Visit
  • Give

University to Host Spooktacular Optics, Safe Trick or Treat

  • Apply
  • Visit
  • Give

  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Alumni
  • Athletics
  • About
Wednesday, October 29, 2014

It might look the same from the outside, but one would be excused for thinking the interior of the Rockhurst University Community Center has been turned into a haunted house overnight.

This week the University will host two events to coincide with Halloween on Friday. From 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, the public is invited to a supernatural science fair as students present their final projects at Spooktacular Optics. The newest edition of the physics department’s biennial “haunted lab” exhibit, the 12 projects featured in Spooktacular Optics highlight classroom concepts like reflection, refraction and dispersion to create haunted house-style illusions, including:

  • Man in the Mirror: Visitors will see their own image superimposed on someone else’s and can find a creepy message that only shows up in certain light.
  • Alice in Optic Land: An Alice in Wonderland-style journey through a hall of distorting, fun-house mirrors.
  • Cloaking Device: Bodies disappear, leaving only a head, in this illusion.
  • Graveyard of Lost Souls:  Armed with only a mirror, guests will navigate and escape a laser prison.

Other projects will create illusions like colored shadows, growing monster heads and disappearing bodies.

Though they’re definitely entertaining, the exhibit is also meant to be educational, according to Nancy Donaldson, Ph.D., chair of the physics department. Each group, in addition to designing and building their creation, also supply a lab manual explaining the illusion.

“I like to have a fun way for them to show me that they understand the basics of physics, and optics just lends itself perfectly to that,” Donaldson said. “Students will come to learn, but we also hope that faculty and staff, even members of the public, come by to see the displays, too.”

The next day, the Community Center will host another longstanding Rockhurst Halloween tradition, the Safe Trick or Treat. From 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, children 12 and younger with adult supervision from the community are invited as the Community Center is transformed into a haunted house, courtesy Rockhurst student volunteers, with games, activities and treats. Alicia Douglas, director of community relations and outreach, said the event has drawn close to 500 children in the past and has been a safe place for area trick-or-treaters for more than 20 years.

Recent Headlines

  • Past Headlines
Rockhurst Bell Tower
Rockhurst University Logo
1100 Rockhurst Road | Kansas City, MO 64110
816-501-4000 | info@rockhurst.edu
1100 Rockhurst Road
Kansas City, MO 64110
816-501-4000
info@rockhurst.edu
Instagram    Facebook    Twitter    Youtube

RESOURCES

University Catalog
Bookstore
Calendar
Campus Map
Consumer Information
Directory
Library
Photo Albums
Web Portal

I WANT TO:

Apply
Visit
Give
Find a Job
Hire a Hawk
Reserve Event Space
Contact Rockhurst

SCHOOLS

College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business, Influence, and Information Analysis
Saint Luke's™ College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram
Kansas City's Jesuit University
© Rockhurst University | Privacy Notice | Web Accessibility
© Rockhurst University
Privacy Notice | Web Accessibility