Halloween takes Mills to Oz, on a roller coaster ride
Senior Halloween scares up creativity, tradition
Willy Wonka and a crew of Oopma Loompahs made an appearance Monday as part of Senior Halloween.
November 2, 2016
An all-girls LSM Tricycle Gang, a real life Pac-Man game running wild, a Double Dutch Red Hot Chili Steppers Team jumping their way to class, and a mob of bright orange traffic cones with the word Detour printed on them forcing kids to take alternate routes to class. You might wonder where all of these would be found. The answer: throughout the halls of Lewis Mills High School on the one and only Senior Halloween day.
What exactly does Senior Halloween mean?
To underclassmen, it is a day of chaos and being late to classes, held up by the elaborate antics that accompany the spectacle. To upperclassmen, it is a day to go crazy, have fun, and to repeatedly get on the nerves of their younger counterparts. It is a day that many await for three years.
Seniors Jacob Honig and Shawn Magill scored a win in best costume categories for their inventive roller coaster themed ensembles.
Senior Halloween is one day a year when twelfth graders at Lewis Mills have the special privilege of buying, creating, or making a costume to wear around the school. They can go solo, or group up with some friends and go crazy. This also functions as a contest in which either a single student, or a group of students, can compete for the distinguished title of Best Costume(s). Throughout the day, the costumed students often emerge early to create scenes in the hallways for when classes let out. Or they walk into other classrooms and put on small shows that relate to their costumes. Many students view it as a free day to roam the school with friends and entertain the underclassmen.
“Senior Halloween is a day for our grade to dress up and have fun. It is a very fun spirit day that allows us to celebrate that we have made it to our senior year by having a fun day,” said Kate Fabrizio, a senior who dressed as the scarecrow as part of a Wizard of Oz-themed crew.
From senior Terian Guerra’s point of view, “Senior Halloween is a fun event, ever since freshman year I’ve been looking forward to it and planning what I should do. I think it’s a great opportunity to do something fun with your friends or by yourself, regardless, it’s a good time.” Joked Guerra, who dressed as Willy Wonka along with some Oompa Loompa friends: “If I have an opportunity to dress up like an idiot without getting looked at funny, you better believe I’m going to take it!”
Senior Maddie Longdin, who played the role of one of the Mills tricycle gang members, echoed Guerra’s thoughts.
“It is a time where you can dress up to be anything you want, and have a fun time with your classmates and friends and make so many fun memories,” she said.
Often during senior Halloween, groups that dress as an ensemble ‘perform’ during passing time between classes, as these farmer/scarecrow students did on Monday.
Memories are made and cherished by not just the seniors, but also by the faculty and staff.
Business teacher Barbara Angelicola-Manzolli, who has interacted a multitude of times with the twelfth graders on Senior Halloween, had a lot to say.
Angelicola-Manzolli appreciates – and wouldn’t change – the unique tradition. She enjoys seeing students she remembers as mere freshmen, express themselves so creatively a few years later.
“To be honest, over the 15 years I’ve been here, students have gotten more creative, costumes have gotten less skimpy, and more appropriate,” she said. “I think it’s a great day.”