Halloween memories: Students share theirs

 

BY HANNAH ALEXIS,

VIRIDIANA CAMACHO

and CLAIRE PATTERSON

VN STAFF WRITERS

Political science major Amy Scruggs loves Halloween.

Every year, her room is filled to the brim with decorations.

Her favorite memory is when she made candy corn from scratch.

Her family also has the tradition of visiting Spicer Orchards Farm Market to go apple picking.

“We use them to make homemade apple sauce,” said Scruggs.

Now, try to imagine what her favorite costume might be.

How about a fairy? No.

A cat? Nope.

“My favorite costume is Darth Vader,” said the junior.

Halloween is a time for haunted houses, spooky decorations and costume festivities.

But one of the best parts is the candy.

For many, childhood Halloween was all about the candy, going trick or treating with siblings, cousins and friends and then returning home to survey the treasure.

Those old memories are easily recalled by Detroit Mercy students.

If there were an award for costume originality, pre-med major Carlie Castiglione would be a contender.

“One year I dressed up as a bubble bath; I had balloons to represent the bubbles and a cute little rubber ducky,” she said.

Her favorite memory of Halloween goes back to when she was five years old.

Her parents pulled her and her little brother in a wagon, tipping it back and forth to mimic a rollercoaster.

Sofia Bellaire, an accounting major, likes to keep things simple.

“My favorite costume was when I dressed up as a witch, and my favorite memory of Halloween is going trick or treating with my parents when I was little.”

Can you truly say you’ve experienced Halloween, if you haven’t done one of these two things?

“I love the color pink,” said Nasreen Kobeissi, a nursing major.

So what did she do to express her love for pink?

She dressed up as the pink Power Ranger, of course.

Business major Ana Ginez’s best Halloween memory is of her and her mom teaming up to make an angel costume.

“I was about 7 or 8 years old at the time. My mother and I had stayed up late to make the angel wings,” said Ginez. “I especially got a lot of compliments when I went to school to trick or treat around the halls with my classmates.”

Engineering major Alessandra Pomtoni’s grandmother once hand-made her cheerleading costume.

It had an “A” on it, short for Alessandra.

“At the time, I really wanted to be a cheerleader for Halloween, but my mom couldn’t find a costume for it at the store,” said Pontoni.

Thank goodness for grandmothers.

Biology major Amanda Emke’s Halloweens were spent on the hunt for candy.

“I would go trick or treating with the neighborhood kids, and trade candy with them afterwards. Sometimes we would go to the ‘rich’ neighborhoods because they had better candy,” she said.

Like a true candy hunter, Emke had an eye for quality.

“I was also obsessed with Jasmine (the Disney princess) when I was younger, and I would dress up as her for multiple years,” she remembered.

“One time I got a $20 bill,” said senior Kortney Hepting. “That was the best year ever.”

As the years pass, Halloween involves a different kind of celebration, of course.

“I do still celebrate Halloween, but it’s not as exciting,” said freshman Julia Lane.

We might skip out on the Halloween festivities we once took part in, but we can still celebrate.

Some students enjoy spending their Halloween at parties. Others prefer something more quiet.

“I mostly watch movies and eat candy with friends on Halloween now,” said Hepting.

However, who does like to reflect on all those memories and traditions we once embraced?

“My family would always T-P my uncle’s house and Saran Wrap his car on Halloween,” said sophomore Maddie Lee.

Junior Mikala Redgate looks back on a tradition she shared with her mom.

“When I was little, my mom and I made all of my Halloween costumes together and it was always super fun,” said Redgate.

The best part about Halloween was dressing up and becoming your favorite character.

“My favorite Halloween costume was a witch,” said senior Tiffany Vu. “I was one for three years because I was obsessed with the ‘Hocus Pocus’ movie.”

Sophomore Nicole Jandreski also enjoyed dressing up.

“The best costume of mine was a space girl. My mom and I made it out of duct tape. It was pretty cool,” said Jandreski.

Along with Halloween comes the scary movies people have grown to love, like “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “IT” and “Scream.”

Not everyone is a fan of fear, though.

“I was 9 and there was a casket in someone’s front yard. It was a wolf with a chainsaw that jumped out and started chasing me,” said Hepting.

Halloween may not be celebrated the same way it once was by us, but it’s still nice to look back on past traditions and memories.

“At first I was too shy to say trick or treat but then I got used to it,” said business major Arturo Padilla.

His favorite memory was wearing a “scary clown mask” that “scared everybody,” especially little kids, he said.

One can never be too grateful to spend time with family, according to Joe Jenkins.

The sophomore remembers having his entire family would “come over to the house and go trick or treating around the sub.”

He also recalls running into a graveyard across the street from his house to play with cousins, siblings and friends and going around trick or treating with them to see who could get the most candy by the end of the night.

Mitchell Mims, a senior majoring in biology, said his favorite costume was one of Scooby Doo he wore when younger.

Hannah Kohn, a junior in the social work program, said that her favorite was in kindergarten when she dressed up as a scarecrow. 

Allison Kubasiak, a junior in the social work major, had a pleasant Halloween in Nevada, where she spent most of her childhood.

Kubasiak noted that Nevada achieved statehood on Halloween, so kids had the day off.

She “got to stay home and watch all the cool Halloween specials, Goosebumps marathon and all six (Disney) Halloweentown movies in a row.”

Kubasiak remembers the small goody bags people gave out with school supplies because it made everyone feel happy since some were not fortunate enough to have some of those school supplies.

Maghan Davis, a third-year student, said when she was younger she did not participate in Halloween for religious reasons.

But Davis allows her three kids to participate.

Motor City Casino, her employer, hosts a Halloween party and she feels safe taking her kids there.

When dressing up, her kids do not wear scary costumes as a personal preference.