Haunted Cookie Night is a spin on twice-monthly Cookies in the Commons hosted by Quinnipiac Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett and his wife, assistant professor of nursing Gladys Vallespir Ellett. Every other week, the couple invites a team of student bakers to their Mount Carmel Campus home to whip up dozens of cookies for their student neighbors.

“We started doing this to help establish community here,” said Gladys Vallespir Ellett. “Tom and I have an extensive background in student affairs, and we know what it means to live in a residence hall and be away from family. It’s a great opportunity to get to view students in a totally different way and get to know faculty as well.”

Cookies in the Commons always draws a long line of hungry Bobcats, but this spirited night elevated the event to new heights, she said.

“It’s great to see them coming here in costume and really enjoying themselves. This is what it means to live in a residence hall with the students. It’s a lot of fun,” said Ellett.

Ahead of the event kick-off at 9 p.m., School of Business Dean Holly Raider lent a helping hand during a three-hour bake-a-thon. Raider has also helped with prep for past Cookies in the Commons. She said the Elletts are creating a sense of home for students.

“Earlier tonight, students were hanging out on the couch, and I was thinking some of their fondest memories are going to be hanging out with Tom and Gladys on cookie night,” said Raider.

School of Nursing student Sydney Butler, ’27 said she met many friends in the Elletts’ kitchen as a first-year baker last year.

“A lot of us met each other here. It just builds a community,” said Butler.

Nursing students Lydia Morgan ’27, and Jordyn March ’27, also started as student bakers last year and returned this year to continue helping out and have some fun.

“We lived in the Commons in the Nursing Living Learning Community last year, so we got to know Gladys as our advisor, and she invited us to come here and learn how to bake and get to meet other people,” Morgan said. “It’s been really fun, and now we’re here helping the first-year students learn to bake.”

On October 30, the kitchen crew was joined by special guest baker, Ellett family member Norine Ellett, owner of Truly Delectable Delights. Of course, she brought along some truly tempting recipes. Bakers Joscelyn Spinelli ’27, Melanie Sanchez ’28, Angeline Fanuele ’27 and Jocelyn Reynolds ’28 helped bake up one of them: Oreo-stuffed cookies with a cookies-and-cream base of crushed Oreos and white chocolate chips.

Reynolds later exchanged her apron for a banana suit and fit right in with the students and costumed characters crowding Haunted Cookie Night. To create her costume, Elena Giordano ’28 requisitioned a few rolls of toilet paper and wound herself into an impressive mummy. Giordano said she and her friends dressed up to come out for some fun.

“This is my first Cookies in the Commons, and it was really fun. I’ll come again,” said Giordano.

Students Eve Behrens ’28, Kayla Collins ’28, and Jennifer Bloom ’28 upped their game by dressing up as head cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester of TV’s Glee.

“We were watching Glee a lot when school started and we loved Sue, so we thought it would be a good idea,” said Bloom.

“It was like our bonding. Every night, we would need a little break from schoolwork and we’d watch Glee together,” said Behrens.

Behrens said the friends are also fans of Cookies in the Commons.

“We’re usually at the cookie nights. Tom creates a really great environment here in the Commons, so we love to come join the fun,” said Behrens.

Ellett said nights like these can make some special memories for Quinnipiac students.

“I think it’s great that students will come out, share some food, laughs, memories, and maybe even some pictures that they’ll be able to share when they’re back here as alumni for Bobcat Weekend,” said Ellett.

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