Halloween Campus Recap by Cayleigh Choy, Becca Brightwell, Autumn Long, and Caroline Schneider
Halloween was a busy day on campus. For instance, the guidance office hosts this party every year and brings food for more teachers to show up. Mrs. Weinstein’s favorite part of the Halloween party is seeing everyone come upstairs, the teachers, the costumes, and interact with everyone. “ The party had games and prizes, “I hope that everyone has a good time, we played guess the amount of candies in the jar, and the winner got to keep the jar,” said Weinstein. The candy jar, who Mrs. Julia Manhart was in charge of, had a total of 1091 pieces of candy which were skittles, gummy fish, and more. The winner of the Candy jar was Mrs. Baez who guessed the total of 1000 pieces of candy. The teachers in the guidance office cheered really loud when Mrs. Baez won the jar of candy. “ I was here. I was actually in a meeting, but everyone cheered really loud. We were really exited, she was so exited to take home the jar of candy,” said by Mrs. Manhart.
As part of the IB program’s Halloween festivities, students gathered in the school's media center for a pumpkin carving contest on Halloween that put their creativity, skill, and patience to the test. This year’s contest featured a variety of imaginative designs, but one entry stood out to judges and students alike. "It took me about 4 hours," said Sarah Ishaev, a junior, who carved a design featuring a brain on the top of her pumpkin. “I wanted to do something unique and with human anatomy.” The detailed design highlighted her creativity and careful planning, as carving a brain wasn’t all easy. "It was difficult to carve out the detailed brain on the pumpkin, but the rest was easy," Isheav said.
To achieve this design, the Isheav used simple tools. "I used a kitchen knife and store-bought pumpkin carving tools," Isheav said. Even with basic supplies, Isheav’s pumpkin showed just how much could be done with patience and a steady hand. When asked if they’d participate again, Isheav said, "Yes, I would participate again in carving a pumpkin as a class project." It’s clear that this year’s contest has inspired students to keep challenging themselves creatively.
Finally, the yearbook team decided to end the month with pumpkin painting in class. Junior, Ansleigh Friday, participated in this fun event, which was her second year doing it. “I think my pumpkin turned out pretty cute,” said Friday. With the pumpkin painting, she used makers to paint the pumpkins, “ It was fun getting to do it with my friends,” said Friday. There were a lot of creative pumpkins, on Friday’s she put “spiders and little hearts”, said Friday. Since this is Friday’s second to last year in yearbook doing fun events like these she looks forward to, I would do it again because it’s been fun the past couple of years I’ve done it,” said Friday.
But for the case of senior, Sarah Weems, doing the pumpkin painting, this was the first year she participated. She did enjoyed “It was a very festive thing to do,” said Weems. For her pumpkin, she used makers and drew leaves and flowers. This event was fun and made memories for Ansleigh Friday and Sarah Weems that will last a lifetime and make memorable memories in high school.
As the spooky-season took place, students embraced their Halloween spirit by wearing their costumes to school. All around Melbourne High School, classmates saw each other in their Halloween attire throughout the hallways. This costume craze was a great opportunity for students to showcase a costume that resembles who they are as a person. Students had a chance to be creative and choose what they decided best reflected their personalities. That’s the greatest part of Halloween, you can become whoever you want to be, even if it’s just for one day.
Who needs a parrot when you’ve got a chicken? Even without a parrot on his shoulder, senior Jose Torres Santiago’s pirate costume still turned out great. Torres Santiago expressed his favorite part about dressing up, saying, “It has to be being in character with other costumes and just seeing how those interactions go, it’s fun and very comedic.” Although costumes make a statement, they also tell a story. “I was really in character when I dressed up, I would be yelling, ‘YE BE SCALLYWAG, WE BE FINDIN DE OL BLU,’ to anyone who I knew, that shows how I like to have a good time, I am very outgoing with others,” Torres Santiago said.
At least there was another bird who showed up to school. Senior, Andrew Marble, wore a chicken onesie. Marble felt similarly about dressing up, he said, “Dressing up gives me a chance to breathe. I like the feeling of having a persona for a day.” He had a cluck-tacular mindset that was the main inspiration for his costume. “I feel like people take life way too seriously, they need to chill out when life gets too heated, have a chicken wing or something and cool off,” Marble said. This student wasn’t afraid to ruffle his feathers, confidence is key when your appearance changes into a chicken for a day.