Zoe Donahue, freshman civil engineering major, uses American Sign Language to communicate with Leah Whiting, senior communication sciences and disorders major, at the ASL Knights table during Trick or Tabling in the Academic Village Courtyard on Monday. Over 100 students attended the event to learn about UCF’s various student organizations.
Juanita Olarte
Tables lined the Academic Village Courtyard Monday night as students collected candy and painted ceramic pumpkins.
UCF’s Knights of the Round Table hosted their annual Trick or Tabling event, transforming the courtyard into a Halloween-themed gathering space with student organization tables, pop music from a DJ, pizza and opportunities to connect with campus groups.
Organizations including Ballroom Knights, ASL Knights, Aspect Dance Team and Global Medical Brigades participated in the event, offering students opportunities to explore extracurricular activities beyond their academic programs.
The event was created about three years ago to make student involvement feel less formal, Jahlaney Rosario, executive director of KORT, said.
“The idea behind it was to have RSOs tabling, combine it with the Halloween theme and then add some activities for students,” Rosario said. “So that way, they won’t be bored, but they have something to do while meeting these RSOs and just finding community overall.”
Sharon Roy, KORT programming coordinator, helped organize the event by coordinating performances, purchasing supplies and reaching out to vendors. Roy said she used records from previous KORT boards to plan the annual event while incorporating new ideas.
“Students are getting little bags of candy, and they’re basically trick-or-treating,” Rosario said. “It’s a very simple event, and we’re also having pizza.”
Rosario said combining Halloween activities with student organization tabling gave students a more casual way to interact with campus groups.
“Traditional tabling for RSOs can be a very formal way to introduce yourselves to them,” Rosario said. “The traditional Halloween activities in combination with the interaction makes it feel like more casual and fun.”
For ASL Knights, participation provided an opportunity to introduce students to American Sign Language and the Deaf community.
Lexani Diaz, senior dual-degree student studying clinical psychology and communication sciences and disorders, said the organization aims to provide a comfortable environment for students to learn and practice ASL.
“It’s a great opportunity for freshmen to come and find out that there’s a language that they can take for their language credit for their degrees,” Diaz said.
Diaz said students learning ASL should attend one of the club’s general body meetings to learn about its activities and community. The club also recommends free resources, such as Lifeprint, a website created by ASL instructor William G. Vicars that offers video lessons, vocabulary demonstrations and learning materials for students who want to begin learning or continue practicing ASL.
Zoe Donahue, freshman civil engineering major, said she learned about Trick or Tabling through an Instagram post.
Donahue said the costumes, organization tables and music caught her attention when she arrived.
“I get to see more people and see about all the different majors we have,” Donahue said. “It’s really interesting seeing all the other people that I go to school with here.”
Roy said the event aimed to encourage students to explore social organizations rather than limiting their involvement to clubs related to their majors or existing friend groups.
“The main goal is just to be able to get students to talk to different clubs without making it seem like a chore,” Roy said. “Sometimes tabling can feel boring.”