Hallow-Teen

Students, teacher discuss Halloween, getting older

Photo || Addie Jacobsen
Halloween enthusiast and junior Lani Samms (left) talks with fellow junior Aila McKeown (right) over their plans for Halloween, and what their possible costumes for the year could look like. With Halloween traditionally being known as a holiday for children, Samms noted that it was more difficult to find fellow peers dressing up.

With Halloween coming around once again, students and teachers discuss if they should be going trick-or-treating, or if being a teenager is already too old.

Junior Lani Samms said she likes to dress up and go trick-or-treating every Halloween. Though some may say that Halloween is a childish event, she said she has always enjoyed those activities. With Halloween around for over 2000 years, trends are falling in and out, yet Halloween can still remain an enjoyable event for all ages. Samms said it’s about having fun with your friends and enjoying the night.

“Halloween is my favorite holiday because it’s just so much fun being able to choose what to dress up as, which is my favorite part about it. When you have a theme going on, and this year my friends and I are going to be dressing up as Scooby-Doo characters, it just makes Halloween fun,” Samms said. “I’ve gone trick-or-treating almost every year in my life so far, and though some people can say it’s childish, Halloween itself is about dressing up, and one time I dressed up as dead Red Riding Hood—I think that’s pretty adult.”

According to TIME, most teenagers stop dressing up and trick-or-treating somewhere between the ages of 12 and 16. Although high school is the time when most students quit trick-or-treating, it doesn’t mean students are too old for it. All children, despite their age, should have the opportunity to celebrate Halloween.

Samms explained how even as a high schooler, one should get to enjoy their youth and celebrate the holidays.

“You only have a limited amount of time to enjoy these things, before in like 10 years, you will be pressured even more not to go. I feel like most people won’t or shouldn’t say, ‘oh you’re weird, you are an adult, why are you still trick-or-treating?’ Samms said. “Even in college, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of people who still go trick-or-treating and have fun doing it.”

Chad Andrews, an English and Research teacher, agreed with Samms. Andrews said he likes dressing up for current holidays and events, such as dressing up for the themes during Homecoming week.

“Although I won’t normally dress up myself, if I’m invited to a get together with friends, dressing up would be fun,” he said.

While he now dresses up during school events, Andrews also said he should’ve enjoyed dressing up for Halloween when he had the chance.

“Maybe when I was younger, I was more interested in proving I was a grown-up by teenage years, so I really didn’t do Halloween, since back then I would’ve thought 12 or 13 would be too old,” Andrews said. “But now I’m at an age where I’m not trying to prove anything and I don’t think it’s childish anymore.”

However, some students hold different views on Halloween. According to sophomore Kaden Rush, who has stopped trick-or-treating since he entered high school, not everyone needs to go trick-or-treating. Though he thinks that dressing up and asking for candy is too childish for himself, he also said there were many drawbacks to trick-or-treating that caused him to turn to alternative ways of celebrating Halloween.

Photo || Addie Jacobsen
Juniors Aila McKeown (left) and Lani Samms (right) walk together while discussing their excitement for Halloween. “Even if you’re not a kid or pre teen anymore dressing up is still fun,” Samms said.

“It’s a fun event, but sometimes it just gets boring, or it’s too cold to be outside for that long. Like it’s neat that I can get candy, but it gets tiring,” he said. “You have to buy a costume or make your own in order to go trick-or-treating, but I feel like you don’t have to go trick-or-treating to enjoy Halloween, and sometimes the candy you get isn’t that good, or maybe I’m just too old to care that much.”

Rush said while he no longer goes trick-or-treating, he still enjoys celebrating Halloween at home and with his friends online.

“Instead of going trick-or-treating which you have to walk around too long for, I like watching horror movies because you can participate in Halloween activities in the comfort of your home,” he said. “I personally don’t want to go trick-or-treating anymore, but if other people go trick-or-treating, it’s fine because they probably would have fun and their costumes usually look nice. I just couldn’t put in that much effort to get candy.”

Andrews said he agreed with Rush that others who still go trick-or-treating can find joy in the activity. He recalled the joy trick-or-treating brought him when he was a child.

“If there are still high schoolers going trick-or-treating, good for them,” Andrews said. “I think I really enjoyed the sense of connection, where you are just bouncing to your neighbors house, and having fun with your friends. This is one of those rare opportunities in our culture to dress up as whatever and hang out, and if anyone has fun doing it, who am I to judge them.”