Third graders from Gary and Pioneer schools had a spooky time as students in advanced child development, Art Club and student authors participated in the LRC for Dare To Scare on Oct. 29.

Third graders participated in five stations.

“One station was called the witches’ brew cauldron. There were also safety tips for Halloween done by advanced preschool students, face painting done by Art Club, an edible craft station and the main stage where third graders listened to the 10 stories selected for Dare To Scare,” library media specialist Donna Leahy said.

Students competed in story writing.

Winners included senior Lupe Valenzuela, for her Dare To Scare Halloween story for the third graders, and senior Roselle Ferreyra, for her Dare To Scare peers story. Each received a $25 gift card to Starbucks.

“It was a little intimidating (when reading the story out loud) but it was okay. I really enjoyed reading my story because when I was describing certain creepy parts of my story the third graders would just make noises and say things like ‘ew’, and that’s what I was aiming for,” Valenzuela said.

Valenzuela was doubtful at first in submitting her story for Dare To Scare.

“I decided to participate in the Dare to Scare writing contest because even though I thought my story wasn’t going to win, I thought it didn’t hurt to submit my story and I learned that I should never doubt myself because it was actually a good story,” Valenzuela said.

Besides the read aloud, the third graders participated in crafts.

“The third graders all took with them an edible spider craft made out of a Tootsie Pop with eight pipe cleaners and googly eyes. A third grade class also took home a jar of candy for their class as the students had to guess how many candies were in a jar,” Leahy said.

Third graders brought back reading and writing skills to their school because of the event and had question and answer time with the authors.

Participants for high school students in Dare To Scare learned a lot as well.

“It’s not only educational, it is magical. Our advanced preschool teachers are learning to teach a classroom full of children. Our student authors have a venue to share their Halloween stories with 160 third graders while the Art Club dazzled our visitors faces with Halloween colors,” Leahy said.