One night a year, people of all ages dress up to celebrate Halloween. Kids walk around in the cold, dark night for hours, going door by door, yelling “trick or treat!” to come home to a bag full of candy and snacks. In previous years, students went trick or treating with friends, passed out candy, celebrated with friends and attended Halloween parties. This year, students found other ways to celebrate Halloween while still following CDC guidelines and staying safe.

Senior Erin Chang celebrated with a small group of friends. Although this is not the Halloween she expected, she made the most out of what she could, while still staying safe and following guidelines. “I went to my friend’s lake house and we got dressed up and just hung out. It was definitely different than usual because last year, I was able to hang out with more people. I’m still glad I got to celebrate Halloween and I would much rather do this than not celebrate at all,” Chang said.

Students like freshman Zoe Heller celebrated Halloween with a small group of friends but said there was not a big difference from last year’s Halloween. “This year I hung out with my sister and her friends, who were quarantining with us. It wasn’t much different than last year because we watched movies and ate candy so Covid didn’t interfere that much. I was really happy because we all had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves without letting Covid get in the way,” Heller said.

The pandemic has made it hard for students to hang with friends and enjoy activities they participated in previous years. Students took a different and unique route by celebrating Halloween virtually with friends. Although traditional celebrations were missed, students were still able to make the best of Halloween through resources and technology available to them. “I opted for a virtual engagement for Halloween this year. In previous years, I enjoyed the opportunity to go trick or treating with friends and family, but trick or treating did not seem to be the most appropriate activity to be engaged in this year. This year’s Halloween celebration was completely virtual but just as enjoyable as I was able to coordinate with a group of friends to play online games such as Among Us, as well as chess, monopoly and 8 ball pool,” junior James Mu said.

Sophomore Ashley Woo spent the day doing different activities to get into the Halloween spirit and although it was different and felt strange compared to last year, she was content in the way she spent the day. “I started my Halloween morning at swim practice. We all dressed up and ate donuts while socially distancing outside. I hung out later that night with a few friends and had a campfire. There was no large party like last year and we all had to be safe around things like food. Having to be cautious around my friends on a fun night like Halloween was definitely weird. I still had a great time and know I’ll appreciate the normal times even more,” Woo said.