Trick or Treat! These are three words that are shouted repeatedly by children across the country during the eve of All Saints’ Day every year. They scream these words on Oct. 31 because it’s Halloween. This is a holiday that many children love as they can dress up in extravagant costumes and go around door to door asking for candy.
The holiday is thought to have begun with the Celtic festival of Samhain around 2,000 years ago. On that day, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to stop ghosts who were believed to return to Earth to cause chaos throughout the communities. It has since evolved into a friendly activity for children to have fun and receive candy.
Cathedral Prep made sure it celebrated this holiday by allowing students to wear a costume for $2 to raise money for Student Government. If one did not have a costume to wear, then they were allowed to treat it as a spirit dress down, wearing the orange and black of Prep, which conveniently doubled as the colors of Halloween anyway. There were numerous students who wore costumes and brightened everyone’s day. Even some of the teachers handed out candy to their students, which was greatly appreciated.
There was a competition held where members of Student Government voted on the best costumes. The winner for the students was freshman Robbie Lupo who was dressed up as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He won over the Hamburger Helper, which is what Sophomore Matthew Whaley was disguised as. Third place was awarded to senior Brian Buseck, who decided to dress up in hopes that students would enjoy his costume. He wore a doctor’s outfit and used his last name to pay homage to the Latin teacher at Prep, Dr. B.
The teacher contest was won by English teacher Mr. Peightal dressed as Batman. This was a controversial victory over English and Journalism teacher Mr. Hubert. He dressed up as Saturday Night Live character David S. Pumpkins, which many believed should have put him ahead of Batman.
SGA president Doug Spizarny echoed multiple students’ sentiments saying, “By far my favorite costume was Mr. Hubert’s David S. Pumpkins costume. I loved the Saturday Night Live skit with Tom Hanks and was astounded at how similar he looked to him.”
It was the third straight year Mr. Hubert placed among the finalists but failed to win the costume contest. “I really thought this was the year, but I had fun anyway,” said Mr. Hubert. “Mr. Peightal’s dabbing Batman was just too much for me to overcome. As a long-suffering Raiders fan, I know there’s always next year.”
Rounding out the teacher competition in third place was MVP department teacher Mr. Viera, who was in a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex costume.
It was a memorable day at Cathedral Prep as students enjoyed the holiday and had a few laughs along the way. Doug was pleased with the outcome of the dress down and explained the reasons behind his enjoyment of Halloween. “I like it because it’s a time of celebration. It allows us to wear basically anything that represents something we are interested in and can give way to some interesting conversations. I also like the overall mood of Halloween because it is supposed to be creepy, but it still leads to a good time.”
Many students agree with Doug as it was great witnessing all the costumes and celebrating this thrilling holiday. This Halloween at Prep was a step up from previous years, and hopefully it continues in that direction.