A History of Scaring

Robotics holds annual haunted house

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Photo by: Merna Nasif

Students line up for a scare in the annual robotics haunted house.

Addissyn House

When the robotics team put on their first haunted house a few years after their founding in 2000, their intentions were to scare the Culver City students brave enough to enter.
Boy did they succeed: “In my opinion it was scarier than Knotts Berry Farm. I had my eyes closed the whole time,” freshman Yume Kamal said.
If people are going to “pay us to scare them, we should do the job,” robotics and Algebra 2 teacher Alex Davis said before one of their daily robotics meetings.
There are no set restrictions for the team’s haunted house besides the ones they set for themselves. When asked about the restrictions Davis said, “There is no intentional contact and liquids just make a big mess.”
No contact unless of course someone comes after one of the scarers, which has happened before, Davis said while letting out a short laugh.
Each year they make about $1,000 from the haunted house ticket sales at $3 a ticket, according to Davis. The money made is dependent on how long supplies in the house last and if they need to be replaced.
“The scarier it is means more money towards robotics,” said freshman Opal Emilio, who is in charge of putting the maze together. Money that goes directly to the team in entry fees for competitions and materials to build the robots after the haunted house is over.
A few things are going to change this year like the classroom number.
When the robotics team was started in 2000 by former math teacher and robotics advisor Tammy Swanson, they were in room 59. That has since changed to room 91 which is bigger and has offices to work in. The haunted house has always been held in the robotics room…
…until this year.
Room 14, the former foods room, was available because the class was suspended this year. For Davis it was always “move the materials every day or move my class” because the house was always in room 91. This seemed like a worthy trade because neither of these problems have to be resolved this year. The room is even about the same size.
The robotics secrets are kept under lock and key until their official release. The theme and any clues related to it will therefore not be shared until Monday (October 26) when the house opens at lunch.
Davis did however did say this with an excited smile: “We are going to have a new feature we haven’t done before. That’s all I can say.”