By Karen Li and Nimra Ghani, Staff Writers

Halloween this year was definitely ripe with Halloween spirit and interesting costumes. Students, of all grades and faculty dressed up to participate in the Halloween festivities. Mr. Gelfer, an orchestra teacher, came to school as a Panda, stating that, “My favorite part about Halloween is definitely dressing up.” Some teachers extensively decorated their classrooms extensively.  It is noted that Mr. Sussin’s classroom had caution tape and Halloween decorations on his classroom door.

However, not all students share Mr. Gelfer’s sentiments that the best part of Halloween is dressing up. Sophomore Harriet O’Brien, who dressed as Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, stated, “My favorite part of Halloween is absolutely the candy!” Sophomore Selina Tang agreed with her saying, “I enjoy Halloween because it’s a great time to spend with friends and to get lots of candy!”

Preparation time for creating Halloween costumes range from and entire year to just one day.  The origin of the most creative costumes this year varies, as senior Chris Woods who dressed as a ballerina stated, “Me, Kyle Pedroli, Jake Biro, and Brendan Simpson just wanted to be funny.” Junior Adaeza Madu said, “I chose to be a Wudu doll because my Uncle is a Wudu wish doctor in Africa, so I figured that I might as well.”

Students also voiced their appreciation that Ward Melville embraced the spirit of Halloween and allowed student creativity.  Sophomore Nima Mohammadi, who dressed up as Freddie from Scooby Doo said, “I liked that Ward Melville so graciously opened its doors so that every student could dress up and have a great time during the day.” He continued, “as we age and grow up to be adults, some of the events that we cherished most are slowly given up on, such as Trick-or-Treating. Being able to dress up, especially with our friends, brings up great feelings of our childhood!”

Nima Mohammadi concluded, “High school is not only about learning, its about enjoyment in a convivial environment. Halloween here at Ward Melville High School is not only about the learning, its about enjoyment. Halloween 2013 fit this description perfectly.” 

Check out the Halloween Gallery to see more photos from Halloween 2013!