Immersion Week Experience: The STEM Behind the Scare: October 23, 2025

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 During Immersion Week, our students stepped into the world of fear, storytelling, and design at Slaughter’s Realm Haunted Attraction. This experience wasn’t just about spooky fun—it was an exploration of how science, psychology, and engineering work together to create immersive environments that evoke emotion and excitement.



Students learned how lighting, sound effects, spatial layout, timing, and narrative all contribute to building suspense. They also examined how set designers and engineers plan pathways, construct props, and apply principles of mechanical design and sensory perception to safely startle and surprise visitors.



This hands-on learning experience challenged students to think critically about how we respond to fear and how environments are deliberately crafted to influence those reactions. It also demonstrated how careers in the arts and entertainment industry rely deeply on STEM concepts, creative problem-solving, collaboration, and human behavior.



A heartfelt thank you to Slaughter’s Realm for opening their space, sharing industry insight, and showing our students that STEM can be found in the most unexpected (and spooky!) places.

STEM meets creativity. Creativity meets emotion. And learning takes on a whole new dimension.

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