The Criminal Justice Association (CJA) opened the fourth annual escape room to the public at their Crime Scene Investigation Facility on Oct. 20, to help raise funds to support their work. 

The building was turned into an escape room, a yearly tradition set up by staff in the criminal justice department that locks students inside the building for an hour as they attempt to find clues and solve puzzles. 

This year’s theme revolves around clowns, featuring jump scares as well as dark, dimly lit rooms. The atmosphere is intense and stressful as students attempt to make their escape before time runs out. 

With props and items used for their criminal justice cases, the rooms are set up to where every detail matters. 

This is the fourth year that the CJA has hosted an escape room, with previous themes being based on movies or phobias to help add even more creepiness to the atmosphere. 

The process of setting up the escape room takes a few weeks, mostly split into various stages where the layout is set up. Decorations and clues are made from scratch and pieced together to create one large, spooky experience. 

Unlike traditional escape rooms which only utilize one room, the CJA transforms the entire building into a multi-level escape room, giving extra depth and realism to the environment that students are stuck inside. 

While the funds obtained from the escape room are given by students, the main intent is to allow students to have fun while supporting the CJA, allowing them to provide for the students currently studying criminal justice. 

The escape rooms hosted by the CJA have been popular with students, with the quality and enjoyment of each escape room increasing every year as more students not only pay to participate but also help support the CJA either through clubs or being a part of the committee itself. 

Groups of four to six people are allowed to participate in the escape room with a cost of $10 per person. Each day allows for sessions by the hour from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. 

The money funded from the escape room will be used to help support the CJA and their future projects for students. 

The escape room will be available to students until Oct. 31. For more information about reservation times or questions regarding the escape room, students can view the scheduled event on myWSC or email [email protected].