On Oct. 31, students got to show their creativity by wearing their costumes to school for Halloween. Some popular costumes students wore were fairies, animals, vampires, superheroes and firefighters.

Freshman Charlie Kringel, Rai Bhaumik, Mairead Nunes, Shawn Weng, Melanie Ramirez, Alex Akli, Arijeet Thayavaliyil, and Tyson Nakashima wore maid costumes to school. They had freshman Wrik Datta dress as a butler and then called themselves the maids and the butler.
Sophomore Evelyn Wan is always excited about Halloween. Wan was originally going to dress up as Mario but when she went to the costume store her mind was changed. Wan decided to be an Oompa Loompa and paint herself orange, wear a wig and wear a uniform. “I saw the Oompa Loompa while I was walking through the halls and I thought it was super cool and creative,” senior Debbie John said.

Pop culture also has a huge influence on people choosing their costumes as well. Senior Reign Nzang enjoys and creates music. Nzang was inspired to dress up as a musician by the name of Joey Jordison for Halloween. Jordison was a drummer and guitarist for a heavy metal band from 1995-2013.

Senior Zara Okudo wanted something fun and humorous to wear to school so she went into her attic and found a pineapple costume. Halloween gives an opportunity for students to show character.

The history of Halloween costumes starts back in the 18th Century. According to HISTORY.com, Pope Gregory II decided Nov. 1 was a time to honor all saints. All Saints Day started to incorporate the traditions of Samhain. This was a religious celebration to welcome the harvest toward the end of the summer. During this celebration, people would light bonfires in order to scare off ghosts. The celebration was called the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The festival developed into people wearing costumes on Oct. 31 due to the belief that supernatural beings or souls of the dead were roaming, and the celebration would feed into the 1st of November. The name eventually changed from All Hallows Eve to Halloween. Some of the earliest costumes were skeletons, devils, witches, and Frankenstein, mummy, and Dracula, which were drawn from pop culture.

Halloween costumes have developed from cultural trends most of the time. According to Insider Media, In the late 1800s, people mostly made their own costumes such as a witch or a ghost. In the early 1900s was when paper costumes and masks came to the stores. Later came costumes shaped like a box or inspired by television shows. Junior Esteban Taborga said that Halloween is a great way for students to express their creativity, personality and imagination through costumes. “I’ve always enjoyed Halloween. My fondest memory of Halloween is when I dressed up as Optimus Prime,“ Taborga said.

Students walking through the hallway loved seeing interesting costumes including senior Sophia Shad’s pink gorilla costume, junior Connor Jackson’s pizza costume and senior Dani London’s egg costume. “I liked seeing everyone dressed up in the halls, it brought excitement to school. My favorite costume I saw was my friend dressed up as a monkey,” senior Harel Sabag said.

The iDream of Dance club is continuing the Halloween spirit through the end of November by doing a Halloween costume drive to help the less fortunate have dance costumes. There is a bin in the front of the school for students to donate.