On October 31st each year, Halloween is celebrated nationwide, with millions of Americans participating in traditional Halloween activities like trick or treating, spending time with friends, and dressing up in costumes.
Halloween was brought to the United States in the mid-19th century by Irish and Scottish immigrants who popularized the holiday throughout the country. Since then, it has taken root in a multitude of American communities, including South Windsor.
South Windsor students looked forward to their Halloween plans, including junior Matthew Borek.
“After school, I’m going to hang out with my friends for Halloween,” Borek told The Prowl.
Halloween tends to bring people together to socialize as they come together and enjoy the night, whether it be for a simple friendly outing or for trick-or-treating.
“Trick or treat” is the phrase uttered by individuals when they knock on someone’s door asking for candy. They are typically dressed in some sort of costume, which is part of the Halloween tradition.
Some people question whether high school students are too old for trick or treating, but others look past these thoughts and embrace the custom.
In the school itself, Halloween spirit runs rampant throughout the hallways. This is especially true in the math hallway on the second floor, where the math teachers wore costumes together and the walls were full of themed decorations.
“I think it was a really cool and unique idea, all the teachers being coordinated and stuff like that. I think it was really a sight to behold,” junior Isaac Lewis said when asked about the decorations and costumes in the math hallway.
The theme this year was ultimately decided to be the popular board game Monopoly.
“We started with games in general, but we decided that that would be too scattered and people might not know what game we were trying to portray, so we went with Monopoly,” math teacher Mrs. Devassy said.
The tradition of the math department dressing up for Halloween has run for over fifteen years, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
“We think that if we show unity and spirit, it encourages students to want to come to school and have a little fun,” Devassy said.
Other teachers outside of the math department also participated in the Halloween fun. One of these teachers was Mrs. Tyler, who dressed up as a jack-in-the-box character.
“Halloween is my favorite time of year, and so I’m just kind of bringing in that quirky weirdness of fun to the school. People were slightly scared of me, but they also laughed and thought the costume was fun,” Tyler said.
Overall, the spirit of Halloween is very much alive at South Windsor High School, and it appears poised to remain that way for years to come.
