After a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Diamond Bar High School’s Pathways Academy has finally reopened their annual haunted house for the students to enjoy.

According to Pathways educator Ashlyn Conway, the idea of a haunted house first came about in 2019 when they wanted to host a large event for the school and create something that the whole school could enjoy. However, due to COVID-19 related complications, that was the last time Pathways made a haunted house.

This year was the first time since the pandemic where Pathways were permitted to make the haunted house. Because of this, both the students and staff were determined to work harder than ever before.

“The motivation came from the previous years before saying, ‘Hey, let’s create a bigger and better haunted house; let’s start from nothing and create something crazy,’” Conway said.

Despite having an ambitious goal in mind, Pathways had little funds or materials for this project. Students and teachers had to make the best use of what they had, and some of them spent their own money out of pocket to improve the haunted house.

“They [built the haunted house] on very little funding because it was mostly paper [and] paint,” Pathways teacher Kimberly Dalton said. “Teachers did go out and find things by the side of the road to use, or go to Goodwill and buy props and things for the kids.”

Senior Charles Del Real also shared his experience in building the haunted house.

“There [were limited] funds for this, [and] we couldn’t have walls. So we had to use paper, put it together with tape and put it on the ceiling,” Del Real said. 

Despite initial hardships, the project saw positive feedback from many visitors, who were satisfied with their experience.   

“It looked like the students put a lot of effort into the decoration and all the design… A lot of thought was probably put into where the people were placed. It’s a nice experience, and I would highly suggest it,” said freshman Andy Yang.

Conway also shared her satisfaction with the final result.

“I am extremely satisfied [with the results]. I think so far we’ve had great reviews, I think the students are having fun, and it’s turned out great,” she said.

In all, many Pathways students and faculty agreed that the project had been a good experience for them.

 “[The biggest thing I got out of this] was probably building friendships with a lot of people and getting to know them slightly better. It definitely improved my experience at Pathways,” Del Real said.

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