BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — It's that time of year again. Skeletons are starting to gather in yards. Ghouls are being hung in neighborhood trees. 

And, the Clarkson Physician Assistant students are getting ready to haunt the infirmary on Oct. 25 and 26 at Clarkson Hall at 25 Main St.

The popular annual haunt promises to be scarier than ever this year, and it’s all for a good cause.

The P.A. students pull out all the stops, gore and screams for the annual event that raises money for the university’s Students Without Borders program. 

In 2024, Clarkson’s SWOB program sent 19 second- and third-year Physician Assistant Studies students with local medical professionals to Nicaragua for a medical mission trip. 

The students and local professionals provide medical care to a rural population in the country where access to healthcare is difficult. The students gain valuable clinical field experience and provide help to communities where the majority of the population lives on $3 a day and where treatment conditions are often overcrowded and limited. 

Last year, more than 1,300 people walked through the infirmary to test their resolve and the haunt raised $20,000 for the Student’s Without Borders (SWOB) program, said Jocelyn Bura, one of the student organizers. 

This year, the PA students anticipate a similar turnout over the two-day haunt which will feature the PA Class of 2026. 

The doors to the infirmary open at 6 p.m. Walk-thrus will be from 6:30-11 p.m. 

Tickets are $15 and help support the SWOB program.