Parker Bennett

Community Center
Haunted Center
Evaluation
Completed by KJ Carver, Cory Clemmons,
Mackenzie Morris, and Rachel Williams
Recreation 306: Program Planning &
Evaluation

Section 1
Highlights
This is the best one yet! Previous Volunteer at PBCC
There were a ton of kids that came out. It was a great event and I will
definitely volunteer again! It was fun and exciting! Recreation Student
It was a lot of fun and it went quickly so the kids had a lot of time. WKU
Student
Background
Parker Bennett Community Center is apart of Bowling Green Parks and
Recreation system. It serves the community surrounding Parker BennettCurry and also students and families from Warren County Elementary. The
centers main purpose is an after-school program offered to the students
Monday through Friday. The afterschool program helps the students with
their homework and gives them a chance to be involved and active afterschool. Many volunteers come throughout the week to assist the students
with their homework or just play with them outside in free play. Majority of
the volunteers come through organizations at Western Kentucky University.
Truthfully these volunteers would not have known about the center without
the help of the Program Coordinator. The Program Coordinator is Sabrina
Johnson. She has brought a lot of involvement to the center in the short time
she has been in this position. She attends events at WKU that allow her to
spread awareness of Parker Bennett Community Center. Sabrina has also
brought a WKU Bonner Leader into assist the recreation assistants, this

allows the center to be more involved in WKU and get more awareness within
the Bonner program.

One of her big projects of the fall semester is the Haunted Center. She
brought the idea to the center three years ago and now one of their
Recreation Assistants Elizabeth Huffman is in charge of the program. The
Haunted Center is the center turned into a haunted house for a night. The
participants of the program are led through the center with a guide.
Throughout the center every corner and turn is a volunteer dressed to scare.
If the participants go through the center and make it out they receive a
reward of a big chocolate bar. If the participants dont want to go through the
Haunted Center or get too scared there is Halloween candy awaiting them.
The Haunted Center is truly a family event. This year was the first year the
staff did not host the event of Halloween Night. With that the staff expected
a decrease to happen with the participants, but unexpectedly the center still
had 92 participants go through the Haunted Center.

Section 2.
Purpose of Evaluation
The purpose of our evaluation of the Parker Bennett Community Center
is to evaluate the Haunted Center on October 30th. We will be evaluating the
overall experience and if it is rewarding for the students through the
volunteers. We will also be evaluating the success of the program and how
efficient the program was implemented.

Participants
We will be receiving feedback from the volunteers. We will be giving
them the evaluation after the tear-down of the program. We will give the
evaluation to all the volunteers who stay after the program. We will try to get
the volunteers that have worked with the kids previously, so we can get an
idea of how the kids enjoyed the event.

Methods of Delivery
The delivery method of the instrument is the use of a survey. The
survey consists of yes or no questions, a satisfaction chart, and open-ended
questions. A number of questions on the survey ask for explanation so we
can gain a better understanding of the volunteers response.
Distribution
We will distribute the evaluation after the program is completed that
night. Parker Bennett provides pizza for the volunteers after the event to
discuss what they enjoyed and what could be improved. So we will just hand
out the evaluations to the volunteers and receive feedback that night after
the event.
Incentive.
We did not provide an incentive for the volunteer because there was a
pizza party after the event. We did provide our volunteer services to help out
with the Haunted Center.

Section 3
Data Analysis and Results
Upon deciding to observe and analyze Parker Bennett Community
Centers haunted center, Sabrina Johnson, the program coordinator at the
center proposed that she wanted us to gather surveys from the volunteers.
She wanted us to gather information on the overall effect of the haunted
center, satisfaction rate, expectations, helpfulness of the staff, what can be
improved, what did the volunteer enjoy, and how the volunteer heard about
the haunted center. There were 92 participants and 18 volunteers in total.
Sabrina wanted to gain a better understanding of the thoughts and opinions
from the volunteers to build a better haunted center next year. Her goal is to
draw in more participants and volunteers for years to come, and in doing this
evaluation she can see what to do and improve. The following tables and
graphs include the information on the surveys what we collected.

1. How did you hear about this opportunity to volunteer?

Sorority/Fraternity; 4
Previous Volunteer; 6
WKU Student; 1

Staff; 3 Friend/Volunteer; 4

Sorority/Fraternity

WKU Student

Staff

Previous Volunteer

Friend/Volunteer

Majority of the volunteers were previous volunteers at PBCC, and heard

about the opportunity this way.
2. What did you enjoy the most about the haunted center?

Guiding the Children; 1

Everything; 1
Environment; 3

Participant's Reactions; 13

Participant's Reactions

Environment

Everything

Guiding the Children

In majority, volunteers enjoyed creating and seeing the reactions from

the participants. One volunteer stated, People were really scared, kind
of funny.
3. Yes, or No. Were the staff helpful with keeping you informed
before the event?

Chart Title
17

1
Yes

No

4. What do you think could be improved for the Haunted Center

2016?
Date of Event
1
Noise level/Organization

Environment

No Improvement

*Noise level/organization includes control of the participants, loudness of

music, and organization of taking the participants through the haunted
center.
*Environment includes music selection, inadequate space, quantity of
props/people scaring.
Overall, half of the volunteers did not think the program needed
improvements, and the other half (for a variety of reasons) thought the
program needed improvements.
5. Do you feel that the staff and program exceeded your
expectations? Why or why not?
Yes

No

17

6%

94%
Yes

No

Why the program exceeded expectations:

Friendly and informative staff
3
Organization
5
Overall enjoyment
9
Why the program did not exceed expectations:
One participant stated, I came in with no expectations for the program, and
were just happy to come in and volunteer for PBCC.
6. Please rate (1-5) your satisfaction of the Haunted Center at
PBCC.
Strongly
Agree
5

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree
1

a. How was your over all experience?

b. Would you come back and volunteer at the center during the
school year?
c. Would you recommend your friends to come to this event?

Strongly agree

Agree

All volunteers for question a. and question c., strongly agreed with
the statement. 17 volunteers strongly agreed with question c. and 1
volunteer agreed with the statement.
Additional comments:
I love PBCC!
Great job! Thanks for having us!
Thanks for the invite.
There were a ton of kids that came out. It was a great event, and I
will volunteer next time.
Thanks for allowing us to participate.
I enjoyed every minute.
Tons of fun!
It was a lot of fun!

Section 4.

Discussion and Recommendation.

The Parker Bennett Community Center has been a huge part of the
youth community in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Haunted Center did not
begin until three years ago when Sabrina Johnson began working for the
Community Center. The Center began to get more volunteers and host more
events for the community, including the Haunted Center. The eighteen
volunteers were given a one-page evaluation after the event at the
Community Center. The results found the majority of the volunteers heard
about the event through previous volunteers. Furthermore other volunteers
heard about the event through sorority/fraternity members at Western
Kentucky University, as well as through a friend or staff member. The
volunteers enjoyed the participants reactions the most; the majority enjoyed
jumping out to scare the participants. Also they enjoyed seeing the
participants have fun throughout the Haunted Center. Additionally, a small
portion enjoyed the environment of the Center, which included the maze,

working with the other volunteers, and everything about the event.
Additionally seventeen out of the eighteen volunteers felt the Center
continuously informed them of the event.
While each volunteer stated they had a great time, a lot of them had
suggestions as to how the Haunted Center could improve for next year.
Volunteers thought there should have been improvements by adding more
props, having a variation of music, and holding the event in a bigger venue.
Another recommendation was to create more organization for the
participants going through the Haunted Center. One volunteer also
suggested to change the date of the event to Halloween night. On the other
hand, the majority thought the event went great and improvements were not
needed.
As for the expectations of the program, seventeen out of the eighteen
volunteers agreed the program exceeded their expectations. They majority
stated they thoroughly enjoyed the program overall as well as the staff. They
also enjoyed watching the participants in the program. Additional comments
were on the programs organization, the volunteers were impressed with how
smoothly the program was ran. The majority of the volunteers were
completely satisfied of the overall experiences and they would come back
during the school year to volunteer at the Parker Bennett Community Center,
and they would recommend their friends to the Haunted Center next year.

Section 5
Evaluation Tool
Parker Bennett Community Center Haunted Center
In efforts to better our program for future volunteers, we would like you to complete this
questionnaire so we can improve and provide the best possible service in the future.
1. How did you hear about this opportunity to volunteer?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What did you enjoy most about the Haunted Center?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Yes or No: Were the staff helpful with keeping you informed before the event happened?
4. What do you think could be improved for the Haunted Center 2016?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Do you feel like the staff and program exceeded your expectations? Why or why not?
YES
NO
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Please rate (1-5) your
satisfaction of the Haunted
Strongly
Agree
Neutral Disagree Strongly
Center at PBCC.
Agree
Disagree

How was your overall

experience?
Would you come back and
volunteer at the center during
the school year?
Would you recommend your
friends to come to this event?

Additional comments: ______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your time.

Appendix
I.

Raw Data.

How they heard?

Previous volunteers
Staff
Sorority/Fraternity
WKU students
Friend/volunteer
Total

6
3
4
1
4
18

Enjoyed the most?

Guiding participants
Everything
Environment
Participant's reactions

1
1
3
13

Staff helpful
Y
N

17
1

Improvement?
Date of event
Environment/venue
No improvement
Noise
Level/Organization

1
3
6
3

Expectations
exceeded?
Y
N

17
1

Overall experience?
Strongly agreed

18

Volunteer again?
Strongly agree
Agree

16
2

Recommend?
Strongly agree

18