Elementary school children will descend on the LRC Thursday to be scared.

The LRC and language arts department is hosting its annual Dare to Scare program for Pioneer and Gary schools’ third graders.

On Monday, the library will be decorated in order to facilitate Dare To Scare.

“Dare to Scare started about eight years ago as a writing contest to scare your peers, and three years ago we decided to reach out to the community. Now, there is a Dare to Scare third graders and Dare to Scare your peers as well,” library media specialist Donna Leahy said.

High school students wrote the stories either for third graders or their peers.

The language arts department judges the stories and will choose 10 stories for students to read aloud at Dare to Scare.

“In the most recent years, I have read all of the entries and selected the winners, who were confirmed by Mrs. Leahy. Both contests are looking for a compelling story that is appropriate for the audience, which utilizes narrative elements effectively, as well as those of the genre, and is generally well-written,” language arts division head Mary Howard said.

Besides the read aloud, a craft table and art painting will accompany Dare to Scare.

The first place winners of each category get a $25 gift card of their choice.