Tis’ the season of jack-o’-lanterns, monsters, and candy. To many Townsend Harris students, this holiday goes beyond traditions of trick or treating, playing pranks, and dressing up in costumes.
“Halloween for me means curling up in a blanket and watching every Disney Halloween movie I can while scarfing down as much chocolate as possible,” said junior Ruqaiya Mithani.
Senior Samantha Liu said, “I spend my Halloween making sure that my baby cousin doesn’t steal all the candy from the bowls that people place outside.”
Students like sophomore Eliza Josephson take a different approach in their Halloween traditions. Eliza said, “I always dress up, not to go with the crowd, but to express myself. I like reflecting on pop culture trends while also merging them with my personality and clothing style. Candy isn’t the biggest deal for me.”
While several Townsend students creatively partake in celebrating Halloween, there are a handful that claim it is uneventful as a result of schoolwork or activities.
Junior Krishna Baliga said, “I usually go trick-or-treating with my friends but this year I have too many tests.” Qazi Ali added, “Halloween is often on a school day so I am always exhausted coming home from school. I have to go home, relax for a second, then do all of my homework which usually takes a couple of hours. By the time I’m done, it’s too late to go trick-or-treating.”
“I don’t do anything on Halloween because I usually have volleyball practice,” said senior Olivia Jablonski.
Other students find Halloween memorable for specific experiences they remember from that day.
Junior Alexia Donza said, “Once, I purposely trick-or-treated at my crush’s house and I used to steal my brother’s candy when we were little.”
Eliza said, “We always received UNICEF Halloween boxes throughout middle school. In sixth grade, my friends and I went trick-or-treating in a neighborhood we didn’t know that well. One woman opened her door, demanded that we only take one piece of candy, and said, ‘Why would I do that?’ after we asked her if she wanted to donate. She slammed the door in our face. That was pretty crazy.”
“When I lived in Florida, my cousins and I, who lived in a relatively upper class, Christian community, went trick-or-treating,” said junior Roshan Patel. “One year, I dressed up as the grim reaper. It turns out there are quite a lot of… people who will not give you candy for being dressed as death. I did, however, get a whole pillowcase of candy and 3 giant sized Kit-Kat bars.”
