By: Natalie Reich

Sentry Staff Reporter

Everyone knows of Halloween as the exciting spooky holiday full of silly costumes and Kit-Kats galore. But when October 31 rolls around, many high school students are stumped on how to celebrate. The real question is, what do high schoolers actually do on Halloween? Of course some teenagers choose to go door to door asking for candy like most have been doing for the majority of their lives. Others, however, decide to stay home and hand out sweets to the neighborhood kids. Unfortunately, some even decide to skip the festivities all together and catch up on much needed sleep. Believe it or not, teens who feel that they are too old for the celebration have found some pretty fun alternatives to snoozing at home.

For a lot of high school students, parties or social gatherings are a great opportunity to socialize with peers and have a good time. This is not any different with Halloween. In fact, Halloween parties are particularly popular among high schoolers. When asked what they were doing to celebrate Halloween this year, the majority out of 50 students said that they were going to some sort of party. Maybe it is dressing up as an old childhood superhero and eating as many ghost- shaped cookies as possible, or maybe it is being a part of the social scene for the holiday, but parties are definitely one fun choice for Halloween festivities.

While some might be roaming the streets for candy bars on the night of the 31st, others could be out at a festive party with their friends, or staying home to hand out sweets and trying to cram for a test the next day. Freshman Ben Zazzara is one who is planning on staying in and hanging out with friends. This option is a great low-key way to get into the exciting Halloween mood.

“I’m probably going to stay inside and watch scary movies all night with my friends,” explained Zazzara.

Another spookier option is to visit a haunted house. These have been very popular for years, specifically among teenagers. High schoolers seem to love the thrill and excitement of walking through a house filled with zombies and insane mad scientists – but only actors, of course. In the Arlington area, HB Woodlawn’s student organized and performed haunted house seems to be extremely popular with teens. Nowadays, not only are there haunted house, but there are haunted forests, haunted hayrides, haunted mazes, haunted barns, you name it. If a frightening Halloween themed scare seems enjoyable, a haunted house may be terrifyingly fun choice.

A classic Halloween tradition for high schoolers, and even middle schoolers, is the Halloween themed Disney Channel movies played throughout October. These movies, including the well-known Halloweentown, seem to be extremely popular among students, even the ones who are on the verge of becoming legal adults. Junior Nikki Jafari plans to have a relaxing Halloween this year, tied together with a special viewing of all three Halloweentown movies.

“After school ends I’ll be at Jazz Combo, then afterwards I will have band rehearsal. And then afterwards I’ll go home and watch Disney Channel and watch Halloweentown, both one, two and three,” said Jafari.

Jafari, like the many other students involved in band, will be attending a rehearsal for Jazz Combo the night of Halloween. This might put these students at a loss for time for partaking in any festivities. Since Halloween happens to fall on a Thursday this year, there is a probable chance that teens everywhere will be cooped inside at home studying the night away. Students in the band program will unfortunately have even less time
because they have both Jazz Combo and band rehearsal that evening.

One more speciality coveted by high schoolers is the coveted Halloween three dollar Chipotle burrito. If anyone dresses up and goes to any local Chipotle on Halloween from 4pm to closing, they can score approximately five dollars off their meal for the night. This is incredibly popular among teenagers, especially due to the fact that Chipotle is another food group for teens all together.

No matter what activity you chose to partake in for this year’s celebrations, high schoolers still have multiple options for a fun Halloween holiday.