Inter-Residence Hall Association and resident hall students are getting ready for the third annual Fall Fest.

Fall Fest, which takes place Friday to Wednesday, Nov. 15 to 20, is a student-run festival with many events for those living in residence halls. 

The goal of Fall Fest is to give students a break from classes and give them fun events to participate in.

“Fall Fest is an amazing opportunity to meet other students living in the residence halls,” said Laurelin Haas, co-events director for IRHA and junior in community and regional planning. “[It is] a week to relax and unwind right before Thanksgiving break and meant to appreciate the fall season a little bit more.”

Put on by IRHA, Fall Fest gives students a free week of events which include games, prizes and food.

The events kick off in Friley Windows with a highlighter party where students are given free shirts and are able to meet new students living on campus.

“I think we are going to start off Fall Fest with a bang,” Haas said.

Other events include a dive-in movie showing “Finding Nemo” at State Gym, pumpkin carving at Friley Windows, massages and an oxygen bar in Linden Hall, buster ball in Beyer Hall and will end Wednesday night with laser tag in the Oak-Elm recreation room.

IRHA will also be giving food and prizes out to students, including a 40-inch TV given out at the dive-in movie and a Go-Pro awarded at the pumpkin carving.

The food portion of Fall Fest includes breakfast-on-the-go outside of Friley Hall, late-night pizza at Friley, Birch, Wallace and Wilson halls and cupcakes-on-the-go at Birch Hall.

IRHA has recruited and trained many volunteers to make these events possible.

Many volunteers come out to make Fall Fest the best it can be, said Kayla Heille, president of IRHA and sophomore in political science.

“All volunteers handling food goes through food safety training,” Heille said.

Fall Fest was decided and voted on during IRHA parliament meetings.

IRHA’s mission statement is to promote leadership opportunity and plan all the events for students, promote residence halls getting to know each other and create a strong sense of community, Heille said.

IRHA’s goal for Fall Fest is to connect students in order to give them the best opportunity here at Iowa State, Haas said.

“Iowa State is a really large school but the only way to make a large school to feel smaller is to make those connections across campus,” Haas said. “I think it’s really important IRHA promotes campus events, because it stimulates a sense of community”.

With Fall Fest being Haas’s first event she helped put on as co-events director, she said she hopes to overcome all challenges and put on a great event. 

“[It is challenging] making sure there are enough volunteers and everything is done in a timely manner,” Heille said.