Students chat in the pavilion between Howard Phillips Hall and the John T. Washington Breezeway on Sept. 11 during the Gothic Knights’ first fall general body meeting. The RSO is relatively new, having been created in spring 2026.
Joshua-Paul Estabalaya
With more than 60 people attending his RSO’s first fall general body meeting on Sept. 11, Alan Barrett reclined on a lawn chair near Howard Phillips Hall, smiling as he watched fellow members dressed in black, like him, participating in the event.
While Barrett was working toward his initial bachelor’s in theater studies from 2022 to 2024, he had thought of establishing an RSO centered on his interests and goth identity.
“Ever since I was a kid, I loved watching ‘Dracula,’” Barrett said. “I loved watching dark movies, the macabre. Also loved listening to music like Nine Inch Nails, and different kinds of music like Danny Elfman, everything like that.”
But school’s busy pace kept Barrett from forming the goth-focused club he envisioned.
After graduating, Barrett said he decided to pursue a second bachelor’s in film. While he was perusing Market Day vending booths in the spring of 2026, he met sophomore pre-veterinary major Lucian Rosa. There, Barrett brought up the idea of making a goth-centered RSO and invited Rosa, who’s also a goth, to be part of the project.
The two created Gothic Knights in the spring of 2026. Barrett said Gothic Knights is for students interested in or who are part of the goth subculture.
“I originally wanted it to be for people who are into gothic music, gothic horror, gothic anything,” Barrett said. “They can come together and have a common ground where they can meet friends, talk to people, get networking.”
Rosa said that they hope Gothic Knights can provide a space for people interested in the goth community at a time when such outlets are scarce.
“Orlando has no more accessible spaces for goth people,” Rosa said. “A lot of it are clubs or events that you have to pay for or events that you need to travel a pretty significant distance for. We want to host events that are free, build up a community that doesn’t exactly center money or clubs or traveling.”
Gothic Knights held its first general body meeting in spring 2026, Barrett said, and during the summer, its officers planned events and activities for fall 2026.
Barrett said Gothic Knights plans to host a dance on Oct. 23 to celebrate the Halloween season. The club plans to host DIY workshops, Rosa said, in which students can make bottle cap pins and learn how to sew.
“We’re going to swap clothing as well,” Rosa said. “We’re going to do clothing alterations like cutting up shirts and putting them back together.”
Beyond activities, Barrett said Gothic Knights hopes to collaborate with Shantymen of the Knight, an RSO centered on folk music and singing sea shanties, though details are still in the works.
Alan Barrett, president of Gothic Knights and sophpmore film major, organizes food for his RSO’s first fall general body meeting on Sept. 11 in the pavilion between Howard Phillips Hall and the John T. Washington Breezeway. He said he hopes the RSO can serve as an outlet for people interested in the goth community to come together and bond over shared interests.
Joshua-Paul Estabalaya
Will Gray, freshman biomedical sciences major, attended Gothic Knights’ first fall general body meeting, which was a picnic. He said he enjoyed the opportunities brought by the event to mingle with other people in the alternative community, which includes the goth subculture.
Gray also said the goth community faces stigma for the unique ways its members express themselves, such as through clothing.
“Just today I put on the outfit to come here, and I’ve been stared at by so many people just walking around the campus,” Gray said. “I can definitely feel the judgment when I walk into a room.”
As a result, Gray said it’s important for an RSO to exist as a way for goths to come together.
“Before today, I had barely seen any other alternative people,” Gray said. “And now I’m here at an event, and everyone here’s alternative, and I can relate to them and find common interests.”
Ryland Troequille, senior art major who also attended the picnic, echoed Rosa’s sentiments and said goth places in Orlando are hard to access, so a goth-centered RSO is important to UCF’s community.
“A lot of the gothic places that are in Orlando, or at least around it, like in Tampa and stuff, can really only be accessible by car,” Troequille said.
Troequille said he also liked the picnic and the chance to meet people like him. He said he plans to attend future Gothic Knights events and hopes to see movie nights and the club’s planned crafting events.
Rosa said the goth subculture came from punk as a way for women and men to “liberate themselves from the standards of society in the 1970s and ‘80s.”
Barrett said the Goth community features many individuals from marginalized groups, including people of color, queer people and women. As a result, Barrett said he wants Gothic Knights to be “accepting of other people and want to be inclusive as much as possible.”
Barrett and Rosa said that as a young RSO, Gothic Knights has faced complications involving funding.
“Our money is limited,” Rosa said. “Money brings a challenge mostly for the bigger events, like the party that we’re planning and getting people from bands to collaborate with us and come to campus and perform.”
A group of students sits and chats on the lawn between the John T. Washington Breezeway and Howard Phillips Hall during the Gothic Knights’ first fall general body meeting on Sept. 11. The RSO aims to bring together students who are part of the goth subculture or are interested in the community.
Joshua-Paul Estabalaya
Rosa said the RSO’s officers have had to use their personal finances to fund club endeavors, such as purchasing items for DIY events.
Even through its obstacles, Barrett said it’s been “amazing” being an officer of Gothic Knights.
“It’s hard, and it definitely takes a lot of time,” Rosa said. “But it’s rewarding in a way that you know you’re building this community for people who…don’t have the confidence, and you’re giving them the space to be themselves.”
Barrett said students don’t need to pay dues to join Gothic Knights or attend events. Those interested in staying updated on Gothic Knights’ events can do so on the RSO’s Instagram account.