The Bell Mansion Flashlight Tour

Emily Coverstone

Calling all paranormal investigators! If you or anyone you know love spooky stories or enjoy hunting for ghosts, ghouls and goblins, then this local event is for you.

On October 25, 28, and Halloween night, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. the Bell Mansion located at 420 West Wayne Street, Fort Wayne will be offering guided flashlight tours.

People from all around can attend for the price of $25 and tour around the historical building with just the help of their flashlight.

The guided tour will be a total of 2 hours and throughout it, a guide will provide all the paranormal stories that they or others have experienced there in the building. The tourists will be able to explore all 3 stories of the mansion. Along with the 3 floors, tourists will be able to visit the basement that still have the original gurneys, body boxes, and embalming tables that were used when the building was a funeral home for more than 93 years.

Visitors may be lucky enough to visit the original embalming room where tons of bodies were embalmed when the funeral home was still active.

To get tickets, you can go online to www.thebellmansion.com or also pay with cash or card at the door before entering.  

Don’t worry if you missed all the hauntingly fun tours so far. Every Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. visitors can tour the building and learn how to use paranormal equipment and possibly capture their own paranormal activity.

Graduate School Services at Purdue Fort Wayne

Quinn Fahrenbach

Some students who finish their studies here at Purdue Fort Wayne may choose to pursue further education at some sort of graduate school. The Career Development Center offers services intended for those students who wish to go further with their education.    

“More employers are seeking candidates with more advanced education. Even if a master’s degree isn’t listed as a required qualification, many companies will offer a higher starting salary to those holding advanced degrees,” PFW’s Career Handbook states.

Before deciding to enroll in the Counselor Education program at Purdue Fort Wayne, current graduate student Kaliyat Gamba said she thought extensively about what program would be the best fit.  

“Grad school is expensive. I wanted it to be worthwhile at the end of the day. Before I went, I had to know what I am really passionate about,” Gamba said.

The Career Development Center offers a grad prep appointment, where students meet with a career counselor to discuss what the student is looking for in graduate schools. The Center also discuss scholarships and deadlines, Tracey Hanton, associate director for career development, said.  

            Hanton said she also likes to think beyond the academic aspects of preparing for graduate school, like preparing a student who is planning to go to school in a cold place.

“In July, you need to go get your car looked at. You don’t want to get out there in the middle of November and realize that you need new tires, sitting out in the middle of Colorado. That’s not the time to find out that you need new tires, July is the time to find out if you need new tires,” Hanton said.

After making the decision where Gamba would attend graduate school, she said she still had to produce several documents to lead her to the point where her admission status was in the hands of the school.

According to the graduate studies section of the Purdue University Fort Wayne website, in order to apply to a Purdue Fort Wayne graduate program, a prospective student must provide official transcripts, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, application fee, and additional materials subject to the student’s program of choice. 

Gamba said she struggled the most with drafting her statement of purpose.

A statement of purpose is a 700–1500-word essay describing why you want to go to the school and what do you hope to learn out your chosen program, though this varies with each program, Hanton said.

Gamba said, “I wanted to stay true to why I was going into the program, but also try and not sound too generic. It took me a few weeks and I was satisfied by what I came up with, because I believed it was true to my desires, passions, and drives.”

The Career Handbook Development Center states that preparation for graduation involves many steps and that a student should usually begin the steps throughout their junior year.

Gamba said, “In hindsight, I wish I started a year ahead. Because of unforeseen circumstances, I had to start in the fall instead of the summer semester. If you want to be intentional about grad school, 12 months before you start is a good time to get the ball rolling.”

            Additional information about graduate school can be found in the Career Handbook at https://www.pfw.edu/offices/career-development-center/docs/Career_Handbook_Career-Development-Center-508-DIGITAL.pdf.

Purdue Fort Wayne Interview Prep Services

Heather McMahan

Interviews can be considered intimidating for some students at Purdue Fort Wayne, and so the campus has thought about this small factor by having the PFW Career Development Center offer a variety of services for students to use when preparing for any upcoming interviews they may have. 

The interview preparation services the Career Development Center offer include online mock interviews, feedback and advice from career counselors, a career closet and information regarding what to do and ask during interviews.

Tracey Hanton, PFW’s associate director for the Career Development Center, said career counselors help students to understand the job industry that they are looking at and what might be some pieces of information that are important to know about their industry that is going to help them prepare for their interview. 

Purdue University Fort Wayne students have access to Big Interview, an online service to practice and record virtual mock interviews.

The service allows you to virtually practice as many interviews needed, and you can choose questions created by a specific industry and major. All responses can be reviewed if needed later. You can even send recorded interviews to our staff, and we’ll provide feedback,” according to the PFW Career Development Center’s website.

Ryan Pezley, a PFW Communication senior who has used the Career Development Center for interview prep, said, “The mock interviews really help you focus in on what kinds of questions the interviewer might ask, and how to appropriately respond to those questions, and doing the mock interviews helped me kind of get an idea on how to craft those responses.”

Students are able to send their mock interviews to staff, along with make appointments to talk with career counselors about any questions or concerns they may have dealing with interviews.

The Career Development Center also offers an opportunity for students to get professional clothing at no cost. The Mastodon Career Closet is located in Neff Hall, Room 361. Currently, students get to keep the clothes and are able to get up to one complete outfit per semester. 

“Students don’t have to use it just for an interview. They could have a presentation in class and maybe everyone is dressing up and they don’t have a shirt, or they don’t have a tie or they don’t have dress shoes. It’s anything that is career related,” Hanton said. 

The Career Development Center has a career guide that has a section offering a variety of information dealing with interviewing and etiquette. It provides information like types of interviews, a guide to interview research, tips on proper attire and etiquette, types of behavioral and illegal questions, along with how to negotiate salary and more.

“Successful interviews require preparation to make a good impression,” according to the PFW career guide.

For more information on interview preparation, visit the PFW Career Development Center website at https://www.pfw.edu/offices/career-development-center/students-and-alumni/interview or the PFW career guide at https://www.pfw.edu/offices/career-development-center/docs/PFW_Career_Handbook.pdf.

Trunk or Treat

Emily Coverstone

Calling all Mastodons! On October 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Purdue Fort Wayne will be hosting their annual Trunk or Treat in parking lot 6 located on campus.

Children of all ages are welcome and are also encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes for the event.

“This event is helping out the Diaper Bank, Mission Motherhood and FWCS! We will be accepting donations of menstruation products and diapers to donate to the organizations,” said Onestini Jones, PFW junior.

Jones and her Communication class hope to achieve their goal of helping those in need who aren’t able to buy the products on their own.

FWCS will be providing the products donated to them to their schools for young women.

Annexation Proposal of Northwest Allen County Schools

Tara Mesaros

The Northwest Allen County Schools Board of Trustees met at the end of August to discuss a variety of topics that affect the corporation. One of the bigger items on the agenda was the voluntary annexation of North West Allen County Schools (NACS) properties.

Huntertown Town Manager Beth Shellman and Council Member Brandon Seifert spoke to school board members and requested that the school corporation consider the voluntary annexation of Carroll Middle School and Eel River Elementary School into the town limits.

Huntertown officials say the town is growing rapidly and they want to continue annexing to the West and to the North. They say the first step in that process is annexing the school corporation’s property.

Huntertown Town Manager Beth Shellman pointed out “The town doesn’t normally extend their water and sewage unless you’re in our corporate limits, currently, Carroll Middle School and Eel River Elementary school utilize Huntertown’s water and sewage systems.”

 “This is the only school property that we have service for utilities that is not apart of our corporate limits. The school doesn’t pay property tax so it really doesn’t affect you one way or another. And you’re already on our utilities” said Shellman.

If NACS does not sign the voluntary annexation, Huntertown will have to opt for an involuntary annexation. Town officials say it is more costly and takes longer than the voluntary annexation, but it’s something they are willing to do.

“The school wants to have a good relationship with Huntertown and not be in an adversarial posture, but the property tax caps are the issue,” said NACS School Board President Ronald Felger.

Shellman said the fiscal plan shows that there is zero negative tax impact for the school corporation.

Huntertown officials say that by annexing, they will also be taking on a portion of the street maintenance on Hathaway Road with no additional tax increase coming from the school.

In response to Shellman, Felger stated that following the last annexation, the corporation lost about $60,000 in the first year due to the property tax caps. Although the proposed annexation is projected to be tax neutral for the district it could lead to future annexations, which could open the door to future property tax cap loses.

Additionally, NACS School Board Vice President Kent Somers stated that he doesn’t think Carroll Road and Hathaway Road could handle the additional 1,600 to 1,800 houses and the traffic they would bring.

“Huntertown has a 5 year pavement improvement plan, and the road reconstruction project on Carroll Road will be done next year and the Hathaway Road project is set to be done in 2027” said Spellman.

After hearing from Huntertown Officials, Spellman and Seifert, the NACS School Board decided they needed more time to consider before signing the petition for voluntary annexation.

“It sounds to me like we need a little more information, but we’re not saying no…” said Felger.

The school board doesn’t want the burden of the property tax cap losses to fall on the taxpayers.

“It’s just the estimated property tax cap losses that have to be made up.” said NACS Superintendent Wayne Barker.

The NACS school board motioned to table the conversation on the Huntertown annexation until they receive further information.