The smell of the smoke machine drifted through the hallways of Community High. Dressed in their costumes, just over 200 students had bought tickets for the night and joined together for some early Halloween spirit.
A couple of hours prior, members of CHS Forum Council (Foco) had arrived at the school to set up for the event. This year’s annual Halloween Dance was scheduled for the Friday before Halloween, Oct. 24. They had been preparing for over three weeks and were spending these last hours making their visions come to life throughout the second floor of the school.
Throughout the beginning of the school year, Forum Council was faced with many challenges. A problem they often ran into was schedule changes due to testing and holiday breaks; however, that didn’t stop them from putting together an unforgettable night by putting in extra work and time leading up to the dance.
“We had to have Foco at lunch twice, and the Foco leadership meetings were very wacky,” Senior and Foco treasurer Nic Villamor said. “But we were pretty efficient.”
Forum Council included a wide variety of activities so everyone could participate in something they enjoy. To do so, the council split into committees, with the help of Ryan Silvester, Foco’s advisor, who made sure planning went smoothly within the groups. These included organizing food and planning the decor and events in the game room, craft room, craft theater (or dance floor), photo booth, hallways and the haunted house. The haunted house was added as a new addition, as every year Forum Council tries to add something to change and improve upon the last year’s festivities.
Many upperclassmen have been coming for a long time. Senior Maggie Williams has been coming to the Halloween dance since her freshman year. Some of her favorite memories include the photo booth, Mario Kart tournaments and crafts. This year, she is a part of the gardening Community Resource class at CHS. The class donated fresh squash to act as decorations for the night, and Williams was excited to see how they turned out.
“I’ve had a really good time in the past years,” Williams said. “It’s like having two Halloween’s!”
This year, Williams dressed as Marzipan from Homestar Runner and couldn’t wait to show off her costume with embellishments she added herself.
Other students, such as Freshmen Eliza Kiley and Josephine Adams, thought duo costumes would be fun. They dressed as Mike Wazowski and Sully from Monsters Inc. The duo wore onesies of their characters and thought they were super comfortable for the night.
Costumes are a highlight of the dance for many students. Costumes are one of Junior Felix Brown’s favorite parts of the dance. Brown dressed as Wirt, a character from the film Over the Garden Wall. During the dance, he sat doing arts and crafts with Sophomore Clara Woodside in the library converted craft room. Woodside came as Starfire from the popular series Teen Titans Go! In addition to showing off their costumes, the two enjoy seeing what others wore to the dance and, of course, the doughnuts.
“I go every year, I think it’s really fun,” Woodside said. “It’s great to come to even if you don’t want to dance, there’s a lot of other stuff to do.”
Many students at Community High School value the time they are able to spend with friends and the enjoyment they have through events such as the Halloween dance. They have found fun in having two halloweens and coming together and getting to show off their costumes.
