When I think of Halloween, I’m instantly transported back into the linoleum halls of elementary school, where any possible holiday marked on the calendars was practically treated as its own religion. These moments were a golden standard of elementary, a rare instance in which a combination of Pilsbury sugar cookies and apple juice in some zanily-decorated cups single-handedly ties the nation as a whole together in one niche, little package. While the idea of going back in time to relive this era of blissful unawareness and the horrific quicksand pit that was Music.ly certainly holds no personal appeal, looking back on those annual Halloween celebrations really does highlight just how much our ten-year-old selves took for granted.
Therefore, walking through the doors of Madison High School on October 31st this year to see multiple sightings of “Cat-maids” was a major tonal shift to say the least, but it’s nice to see this Halloween spirit is still holding a firm grip within the Madison community. Technically speaking, the MHS celebration began with the yearly tradition of an afterschool pumpkin painting festivity on October 27th, followed by a Halloween bake sale sponsored by the GSA club the very next day.
However, the “main event” entailed a competitive lineup of contenders for the MHS costume contest for both students and teachers alike. The student contest consisted of costumes from iconic horror characters such as American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman as well as some more interesting choices like the Pope, and, my personal favorite, some form of a satanic bull who was so genuinely scary and obscure that part of me fully believed it walked straight off the Riverdale’s writing team’s “Villain-Inspo” board on Pinterest. Despite the steep competition, it was ultimately junior Tom Yao who walked away victoriously as the winner of the MHS student costume contest.