As Halloween approaches, students begin planning activities to “spice up” the day, ranging from special dorm events to coordinated costumes. As many boarders lack the option to return home to engage in childhood traditions like trick-or-treating and wearing Halloween costumes in their hometown, faculty houses collaborate in the task of candy-giving to provide an on-campus alternative.
Students vary in their celebrations of Halloween: for example, Emlyn Joseph ‘27 likes “to walk around campus with his friends to see all the dorms’ fabulous decorations,” Matthew Ngure ‘29 “loves eating an excessive amount of candy, especially sweet tarts and smarties, which are my favorite kinds.” He adds, he “also used to stroll around my aunt’s neighborhood to look at the houses in the Halloween tone.” He plans on dressing up as NBA player Vince Carter this Halloween. Anna Mulliken ‘26 loves “to eat pumpkin chip Reese’s.” During Mulliken’s freshman year, she met with her “boarding friends on the track field after trick-or-treating to eat candy and hang out.” She thinks fondly of this tradition and values her unique Halloween experience. Alexandra Greenwood ‘28 and Isabella Vander Elst ‘28 mentioned they “like to hand out plenty of candy” during Halloween.
Costumes are an indispensable part of many students’ Halloween. Grant Kim, Michael Rosa, and Gabriel Galva Diez ‘28 plan to coordinate a group costume, which will be inflatable suits. Tyla Tsang ‘28 likes to “scare fellow trick-or-treaters with [her] nun costume.” Isabel Luo and Nini Lu ‘29 decided to be in “matching deer costumes for trick-or-treating,” while Nora Lu ‘29 plans on dressing up as Toothless from the movie franchise How to Train Your Dragon.
Each dorm also has its own Halloween traditions, often involving joint dorm activities. For example, Wolcott House will be carving pumpkins with Hathaway House. Norris House, on the other hand, plans to watch a horror movie and decorate the dorm. While Robbins House plans on hosting a pumpkin carving with Forbes House. Boarder in Robbins Camila Gomez ‘29 looks forward to carving pumpkins with her dorm, while Hathaway Boarder Seline Shahzad ‘26 cites Halloween night in the dorm as “one of [her] favorite traditions.” She reports that, historically, the seniors gather new students in the TV room to tell Hathaway’s ghost stories and bake cookies before a spooky surprise.
A poll of 171 students from all grades revealed that, on Halloween, 130 people were set on hanging out with friends, 83 people enjoy trick or treating, and, similarly, 83 people enjoy dressing up and acquiring their costumes. The less popular choices of Halloween activities were watching horror movies, with 53 votes, and decorating, with 43 votes.
Some students, like Alex Signorovitch ‘29, have “nothing planned” for the special night, as he’ll be at ISLs with the cross country team, “like several other athletes.” While Koslowsky ‘29 misses “decorating his house with his family,” he adds that it was still “a memorable and wholesome tradition.”