![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
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![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Upper School dresses up for Halloween
The Varsity Girls Tennis team wears unicorn costumes. Students dressed up in various costumes to celebrate Halloween.
Upper School students dressed in a wide range of costumes for Halloween today, showing their spirit for the holiday.
Popular choices included unicorns, cats and witches, but people also dressed in less common costumes, such as a tea bag and raindrops. Many students welcome the holiday as a needed celebration in the busy school year.
“It’s just fun to do something outside of the academic life,” Shannon Richardson (11) said. “Even if it’s just dressing up for a day or being goofy.”
Leading up to the holiday, Spirit Club encouraged Halloween spirit throughout the week. Events that the club hosted included a pumpkin carving contest between grades on Wednesday, and the festivities have continued until Friday Oct. 31, when students came to school in costume.
Many students will be spending their Friday evening roaming neighborhoods going door to door in search of candy.
“I am absolutely going trick-or-treating,” Divija Bhimaraju (9) said. “But if it’s raining, then I’m going to my friend’s house for a Halloween party.”
In addition to popular interest in trick-or-treating, students expressed interest in a variety of other activities, including parties, watching scary movies, attending Halloween Haunt at Great America and even staying at home and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Not all students had decided on attending parties or going trick-or-treating, and instead chose to attend events at the Upper School.
“I’m not going to go trick-or-treating because I’m teching at the Fall Play, but we’re going to be having a Halloween party afterwards,” Medha Shah (10) said.
Though there were many costumes at the Upper School that are not commonly seen when wandering the streets on Halloween, some students found it hard to find a good costume that was still easy enough to make.
“I find it difficult to keep coming up with good costumes every year,” Leon Chin (12) said. “I usually slap on something very simple. I would enjoy dressing up more if I had a good costume.”
Though people of all ages celebrate this holiday, some choose not to go out in the evening due to workloads.
“I’m just staying home because I have a load of homework,” Adele Li (11) said.
Many students made similar choices, as recent results from an online survey on Harker Aquila show that 39 percent of students would rather stay home and work on early college applications and 24 percent would rather stay home. This information contrasts with the Halloween spirit shown at school, when only 24 percent of the people who answered would rather go trick-or-treating and 12 percent who would rather go to a party.
For students across the board, Halloween is a simple pleasure and a time to have fun and get free candy.
Lauren Russell (10) is a reporter in her second year on staff for the Winged Post. After joining the staff for freshman year, she looks forward to continuing...
Shannon Su is the Managing Editor and Executive News Director of Harker Aquila. She joined the program as a reporter her freshman year and has held many...