Students Helping Students One Textbook at a Time
Students Riley Brown (left) and Olivia Markham (right) are part of CTAS (Created to Achieve Success), a student organization that supports fellow students. Here, they are working at the group’s book drive, which was held Nov. 21. 
The student organization CTAS (Created to Achieve Success) created and hosted a haunted house as part of Columbia College Chicago’s After Dark after-party experience and later as a fundraiser. 
Students Olivia Markham and Riley Brown learned a lot creating and hosting a haunted house and plan to apply those lessons learned to make next year’s Haunted House bigger and better. When juniors Olivia Markham and Riley Brown joined CTAS (Created to Achieve Success), they became part of an organization in which students support fellow students in very tangible ways.
“We’re finding ways to help students who can’t afford required materials like textbooks,” says Markham, an Arts Management major.
The group, which was founded in 2023 by student Caleb McDermott in Professor Beth Ryan’s Introduction to Management and Entrepreneurship class, came about when students recognized that some classmates struggled to stay enrolled due to the cost of materials.
Since then, CTAS has helped students obtain essential course resources and continues to expand its reach.
A Haunted Success
To raise funds, CTAS hosted a Haunted House in October that was introduced as part of the celebration following the downtown parade called After Dark. A full-on Haunted House experience was then held by the group during Halloween week. In partnership with Jerry Brindisi, interim director of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, CTAS transformed space at 618 S. Michigan into an eerie maze, where attendees were immersed in scenes inspired by horror films.
“There were hurdles, like lighting rules and space limits, but we learned how to problem-solve fast,” says Brown, a Creative Writing and Business and Entrepreneurship double major.
The haunted house featured themed rooms inspired by “Halloween” and “The Ring,” complete with handmade sets, volunteer actors in costume, and animatronics sourced from Facebook Marketplace and Brindisi’s own Halloween collection.
“It was stressful but so rewarding,” Brown says.
The event drew about 300 visitors and raised nearly $300 in donations, funds that will go directly toward purchasing textbooks for students in need.
More CTAS Activities
On November 21, CTAS ran a textbook drive during the Giving Thanks campus event. And on Dec. 5, a benefit concert called 1NITE - We Are One hosted by the School of Business and Entrepreneurship’s Events Management Practicum will support CTAS as well as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, with several high school program participants attending the event with their families.
For the concert, there will be a DJ and three different performers, including indie rock band Chocolate in Your Pocket, Funk/Psych Rock/Soul/Jazz band Luscia Jane, and the headliner $ocial Introvert$ (Mike DFG and Nate Vintage).
At the event, which will be held at HAUS (623 S. Wabash Ave.), attendees can make donations as well as purchase a “Slice Price Card” from Domino's Pizza, which is an unlimited BOGO (buy one, get one) pizza card. All proceeds will go to CTAS.
Both Markham and Brown are excited about the concert and the difference it will make in Columbia students’ lives.
And, they are already looking to the future.
“Next year, we plan to bring the haunted house back — bigger and better,” Markham says.
Students who want to donate or request materials can email ctas@colum.edu or visit the CTAS bookshelf on the second floor of the Student Center. Dollar donations can be made here.