SUSA joins in for Boo at the Zoo

Princesses, cartoon characters, and even Pac-Man visited the National Zoo for its 12th annual "Boo at the Zoo" event held for 2- to 12-year old children.

For SUSA's first community service event of the semester, seven students from the Business School joined in on the fun Oct. 24, and passed out treats like popsicles, chips and apples to trick-or-treaters.

For most of the volunteers, it was their first time at Boo at the Zoo.

"I would definitely encourage whoever's the community service chair after me to do this because one of the first things that I heard from my committee when I got the position was, ‘We need to do Boo at the Zoo,'" said sophomore finance major Pratik Dixit.

Dixit, dressed as a lion, and two other volunteers from the Smith School gave out popsicles, a popular treat that created chaos and even caused the Good Humor truck to run out of cold treats three times.

"It was really tiring actually, but it was fun," Dixit said. "I enjoy these kinds of activities, and I enjoy interacting with kids in the D.C. area, so it was fun."

Boo at the Zoo, held from Oct. 22 to 24 this year, attracts hundreds of trick-or-treaters each year. The National Zoo closed early for the event, which ran from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

"I thought it was fun," said SUSA Vice President of Administration Adam Saunders. "It was really enjoyable. Kids are cute, and little babies come up to you and are like, ‘trick-or-treat!'"

Sophomore public health and French major Allie Miraglia decided to volunteer at Boo at the Zoo to support her friends who are SUSA members.

"It's been fantastic," said Miraglia, who came dressed as a leopard. "It's great to see not just the kids, but also the parents get dressed up and get really into it. I've been handing out apples…people have been really receptive and enjoying the healthy parts of the day, as well as all of the junk food."

According to Dixit, SUSA participated in Relay for Life and Serve DC – the mayor's office on volunteerism – last semester. The Smith organization also recently hosted a volleyball tournament in which all donations went to UNICEF.

SUSA members hope to have a Thanksgiving food drive in November to fight hunger in The District's area, said Dixit.