HALLOWEEN: What are you doing?

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Getting dressed up in costumes, going from door-to-door and trading treats with friends. If we close our eyes, these are probably some of the images we would conjure up for Hal- loween: a familiar and repeated tradi- tion of trick-or-treating and candy. But as teenagers get older and the scope of activities they can partake in increas- es, do students look for other things they can do to have fun on Halloween besides trick-or-treat, or do they stick with the same old routine?

“One of my friends recommended a Halloween horror show where two legitimate Hollywood producers and a guide would lead you through this sort of maze thing and certain characters from horror movies would pop up,” senior Katie Pernell said. “There was the triangle head man from Silent Hill, there was the girl from The Ring, the headless horseman and a lot of others. I would always spoil it for people because I would be in front like ‘Oh there’s someone moving over there!’”

In addition to haunted houses, teen- agers also take part in fall activities such as picking out pumpkins, going on hayrides or throwing Halloween parties.

“A few years ago I went to a Hal- loween party and we played a game called ‘Wrap The Mummy’ and we had all these rolls of toilet paper and

we raced to see who could wrap the two people the fastest,” senior Holly Thacker said. “It was pretty hilari- ous and going to Halloween parties is always a lot of fun.”

Some teenagers decide not to do anything at all.

“I went Go-Karting last year on Halloween,” junior Gabe Webb said. “I used to dress up but now I’ve evolved into a lazy sloth who does nothing but eat candy without actually having to go get it.”

Every year, there are still teenagers who decide to stick with their rou- tine and go trick-or-treating. Because many of them are older, their experi- ences are different than those trick-or- treaters who are younger.

“‘You’re too old for this, so why are you still dressing up and going around outside in the dark?’ Is what people would say to me, because when you’re older, you need to be more aware of the fact you’re a teenager and still trick-or-treat,” freshman Mariah Shobande said.

Despite this, teenagers still find it is worth it to go out trick-or-treating.

“When you’re a teenager you’re not a kid anymore, and people are less inclined to give you candy, but it’s still fun to go trick-or-treating,” sophomore Sabrina Mather said. “Teenagers have to deal with a lot of things like AP classes and learning how to drive; the least we should get is some candy.”

– By Meredith Norman