Seniors Sabrina Alayan and My Hua watching over the players. Photo taken by Julie Yu.
The Halloween festivities began early this year, as the Fine Arts Club hosted their annual Zombie Tag event on October 23rd, 2018.
President of Fine Arts Club, My Hua stated that her “favorite part of Zombie Tag [was] sitting in the main office watching students run from [the] zombies.” She explains that her and the other officers found it hilarious when they could catch a short glimpse “on screen, […] of a group of kids running away from a single zombie or a hoard of them.”
After receiving the principal’s approval on the event, secretary, Sabrina Alayan “designed flyers immediately, and [the Fine Arts Club hung] them up” around the school, and promoted the event, said Hua. She mentioned that the planning process began two to three weeks prior to the event date. Hua described the planning process as “not difficult” given that “the whole officer team and club members [were] available to help as well.”
Art teacher, Joseph Luongo explained that after players passed in their ticket, they receive a bandana and are ordered to either tie it around their arm or if they are a zombie they need to have the bandana around their neck. He continued by saying that they asked people to bring in clean socks, and to use them to the human’s advantage. If the human threw a sock at the zombie before the zombie could get in contact with the human, the zombie would then have to stand still for 10 seconds.
The players were limited to the second and third floor only, but could roam around the three houses. Players could not hide in classrooms, bathrooms, and could not loiter around in the stairwells.
The game would automatically win when the zombies take over and there are no longer any humans. Although they set a limit of 20 minutes for each game. If by the time 20 minutes is up, and there are still humans alive, the zombies lose.
Freshman, Nam Doan said that “events like Zombie Tag [are] more interactive,” and require more teamwork unlike many events he was used to middle school. His favorite part was watching peoples’ reaction when they see a zombie and try to not get caught. Doan believes that “events like Zombie Tag [reflects Malden High’s] good spirit by [bringing] people together socially,” and providing a place where students can easily make new friends.
Sophomore, Suiyenah Chen explained that the best part of Zombie Tag for her was “the rush of exhilaration and adrenaline as the bells [rung] and [the players] were running from hoards of people. She mentioned that this event shows that students are still able to “have fun together even though [they did not] know half the people there,” Whether players knew each other or not they had to work together to achieve a common goals, which was to survive. Due to the fact that Chen participated in the event last year, she said that she was able to “[learn] some of the strategies such as hiding skills to survive.”
Sophomore, Karen Hoang stated that her favorite part of Zombie Tag was running away from zombies. She mentioned that “after a round or two, the humans eventually came up with a signal to show that they were safe, [which was] raising the arm with the bandana up silently waving at [other] humans.” Hoang believes that “events like these bring out … students’ leadership and teamwork skills.” She further explained that many groups “brought out a lot of creative ideas and [tactics] to win the game. Hoang said that one group even brought in a drone “and flew it around to scout the area.”
The proceeds made from Zombie Tag will be used for funding for future events that the Fine Art Club will host such a their annual Gingerbread decorating event during Christmas time. Vice President, Paolina Fornari stated that they hope to “hold events that are fun and appeal to everyone.” Hua mentioned that “the officers will be trying to set up another zombie tag event in the spring if [they] get permission.”
