By Riley Burns and Ali Durkin
Staff Writers
As the leaves change colors and people start preparing for the holidays, there’s no better way to kick off the season than pulling out a costume and celebrating with friends and family. Students all around Jamesville-DeWitt High School are getting ready to show off their costumes and have fun.
Like freshman Sydney Baum, many will be dressing up this Halloween season. “You get to dress like something you’re not,” says Baum, who hopes to get more candy than last year and have a lot of fun. Along with Baum, freshman Sean Hlywa Is looking forward to dressing up and going trick-or-treating on Halloween. “Sydney (Baum) and I will be dressing up as Fiona and Donkey from the animated movie Shrek,” said Hlywa. Another freshman, Buddy Boeheim, is also very excited to get to show off his SpongeBob costume. “Spongebob is my inspiration,” says Boeheim. Sophomores Angela Bussone and Alex Catanzarite are choosing to live on the edge by going in Ebola costumes. “We are going to draw the Ebola symbol on a shirt,” says Catanzarite. But others, such as freshman Motse Kuswani, are still unsure of their costumes.
As the students get older, some decide not to wear costumes. Other sophomore Jake Greenway is choosing to not dress up and will hang out with friends indoors instead. “I’m going to just hand out candy instead of receiving it this year,” says Greenway. He may no longer trick or treat, but he still enjoys eating candy and hanging out with his friends.
Like Greenway, junior Ciara Norris also isn’t planning on dressing up this year. “I don’t really celebrate Halloween,” says Norris. But she is looking forward to being with her friends at a Halloween party. Norris is also looking forward to the senior costume parade on the Friday, Oct. 31 like other students and staff. Students and staff look forward to the shock and surprise of all the new and fun costume ideas displayed at the parade. “It’s cool to see all the different costumes,” says Norris.
As seniors start coming to an end of their last fall in high school, there’s no better way to finish it off right than with a Halloween parade. Seniors such as Cortney Vaughan and her friends will be dressing up as Jellyfish and can’t wait to see what her peers’ ideas are, too. “Besides getting our costumes ready to show off, I really enjoy getting to carve pumpkins and decorating my house with family,” says Vaughan. “It’s a big part of my childhood and it’s my last year getting to do it with family before going off to college.”
Other seniors, such as Jessica Wipper, are dressing up with friends but keeping it top secret until Halloween Day. “We want it to be a surprise for everyone watching the parade that day,” says Wipper. “It’s going to be really fun for all of us seniors.” The Halloween Parade will be taking place , and seniors will get to dress up and show off all of their unique costume ideas with friends.
A lot of J-DHS staff is hopping aboard this train as well. Music teacher Beth Quackenbush will be all aboard this Halloween season with her three children, nieces, nephews, and siblings of her own. “I leave the trick-or-treating up to my husband when it comes to the kids because of the chaos but everything else I’m all for,” says Quackenbush. “The kids love pumpkin picking and carving them together. It’s become a family tradition of ours and we all love it.”