Harry Potter palooza aims to help charity

Members of the ISU Honors Program sparked the magic as they came together for a Harry Potter-themed party Thursday night.

Held in the lower level of Pickerl Hall, "A Very Potter Party" was put together by the Honors Program for students to celebrate their love for the Harry Potter series.

Sophomore English major Amy Krupa is a member of the ISU Honors Council and helped plan the event.

"This event was more than just bringing Harry Potter fans, wizards and muggles alike, together," Krupa said. "We also used this event to raise money for JK Rowling's charity, Lumos."

The Lumos charity, according to its official website, is a charity intended to give assistance to "institutionalized and disadvantaged children in Eastern Europe." The Lumos charity helps disadvantaged children –who may be poverty-stricken, minority or disabled— by putting them in safe, stable environments.

According to the Lumos website, Lumos also works with the government and other authoritative figures in order to change the system, preventing children from being in negative environments to begin with.

At the party, students helped contribute to the charity by participating in either the Dementor Kissing Booth or Azkaban Prison. The Dementor Kissing Booth entailed students paying 50 cents to enter the kissing booth where a "dementor" would place a stamp on the student's cheek.

For Azkaban Prison, students could pay 50 cents to send their friends to makeshift prison, which was a dark, secluded part of Pickerl's lower level, where imprisoned students either had to wait five minutes to be set free or pay 50 cents for freedom.

"We didn't make as much money as we planned to, but we definitely have enough that we can send to JK Rowling to help out," Krupa said. "As honors students, we should help out when we can."

Besides raising money for Lumos, students who attended the party also had the opportunity to participate in a costume contest, play various Harry Potter board games, participate in Harry Potter trivia, make their own wands and potions and watch the Harry Potter movies.

Harry Potter themed food, such as brownie broomsticks, licorice wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and cauldron cakes, were provided as well.

Freshman pre-med major Tyler Biggs attended the party decked in Harry Potter's Gryffindor robes and won the prize for "Best Academic Harry Potter."

"This party was a great way for honors students to connect over their love of such a great literary and film series," Biggs said.

In the future, however, Biggs believes some changes are necessary.

"This event should be more open to the public. Although it was a great honors event, it excluded the other Harry Potter fans on campus," Biggs said. "Maybe next year, the event could be held in Dede Plaza in order to include more Harry Potter lovers."