Once all the contestants had arrived, they were split into breakout rooms of five to seven people for icebreakers before the contest began in the main room. Costumes included fairies, animals and fruits, with many participants even coordinating their Zoom backgrounds to match their ensembles. To get the crowd in the spooky spirit, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” played in the background and participants turned on their cameras to show off their individual looks. However, she said the costume contest was the first social event they hosted solely for students to have fun and replicate the excitement that normally exists around Halloween. Earlier this academic year, the office held other events such as a virtual speed dating social for transfer students, as well as a housing and financial aid Q&A Instagram takeover. The idea for the event emerged over the summer when Irby and her team brainstormed activities and events for fall quarter. “I just wanted to create a space for students to still have that experience and allow transfers to also have an experience to integrate into the UCLA community.” “If we were at school right now, everybody would be walking around showing their costumes, but we don’t have that opportunity this year with COVID-19,” Irby said. Director of Events and fourth-year physiological science student, Klio Matthews-Irby, said she saw the holiday event as an opportunity to reach out to new students and help them meet other peers.

Instead of having a panel of judges, the winners were decided through a Zoom poll in which participants casted votes for their favorite costumes of the night. Students dressed up and presented their costumes to the audience in hopes of winning a prize for the top three costumes.

The UCLA Office of the Transfer Student Representative held a virtual Halloween costume party open to all students Friday. Zoom calls just got a whole lot spookier.

Zoom movie costume