For
more than 10 years Keenan Hall has hosted its signature community-outreach
event, The Great Pumpkin. It's an opportunity for underprivileged
children in and around South Bend to come to campus and enjoy
all the typical Halloween activities in a fun and safe environment.
The dorm's residents set up a haunted house in their basement
and some pumpkin-carving stations. They escort the kids around
campus to trick-or-treat at the other residence halls. The little
kids seem to love it -- and so do the big kids.
This year's Great Pumpkin took place the Thursday before Halloween.
Throughout the afternoon, groups of youngsters arrived at Keenan
and were greeted by volunteers in orange jack-o'-lantern T-shirts.
Some of the children were in costume; others had on the clothes
they'd worn to school. All were swinging empty bags, ready to
start collecting.
Soon the kids broke off into smaller groups and were sprinting
across the quad yelling in excitement. The Keenan guys jogged
close behind. I couldn't help but notice the contrast between
hosts and guests: the college guys, big, athletic, Caucasian,
most of them the products of financially comfortable suburban
families; the little local kids, almost all African Americans
and likely from struggling households. Even among those wearing
costumes, it was obvious that scant money, let alone little time
and planning, had gone into the day's wardrobe.
None of that seemed to matter. The idea was to show these kids
a good time, and that's exactly what they were having. At a pumpkin-carving
station, a boy held his carved creation triumphantly over his
head. One of the volunteers listened attentively to a little girl's
long, elaborate tale about why she chose her unrecognizable costume.
Her Keenan escort responded with exaggerated exclamations of "No
way" and "Are you kidding me?" As the groups traveled between
dorms, leaf fights would break out; kids and volunteers pelting
each other with handfuls of autumn red and gold.
An event like this is where the guys show a different side of
themselves than what I see on campus each day. Not the beer-drinking,
sports-loving, smooth-talking "cool guys." Not the rowdy guys
slapping high-fives after an Irish touchdown or criticizing the
coaching strategy after a turnover. Not the eating machines who
pile their plates so high on "wing night" in the dining hall that
one would think it was their last meal. Not the obsessive body
builders who pump iron with the most excruciating expressions
on their faces and then strut around looking proud of themselves.
At The Great Pumpkin I saw gentle, caring, whole persons, the
epitome of the "Notre Dame Man" one sometimes hears alumni talk
about. Fear not, alumni, the species is alive and well. Most of
the guys, as well as girls, who come to Notre Dame share a history
of service to their communities and a commitment to caring for
others. These guys like fun times but care just as much about
others. The majority of the Keenan volunteers, for instance, also
participate in after-school tutoring programs and other community
service groups such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Many go off campus
once or twice a week to volunteer.
You can get various impressions of Notre Dame guys depending
on the setting and time of day and the beverages at hand. I think
maybe they show their truest colors out on the North Quad around
Halloween, getting beaten in leaf fights by people half their
size.
Mary Kate Castellani was a Notre Dame Magazine intern
in autumn 2004.
(January 2005)
