Halloween arrived in full force on the Hilltop. Speakers blared with Halloween music while students and faculty, dressed in festive costumes, swarmed Akin Common, creating a plethora of witches, cats, pumpkins, animal onesies, and more. Parents and
At 2:00 p.m. on Akin Common, the annual Halloween Parade began. With Halloween music, festive costumes, and students cheering, the Halloween Parade was an exciting event. Students, faculty, and parents all gathered around to be part of it, and capture photos of this spooky and fun experience.
faculty lined the path around Akin Common with their cameras in hand, ready to snap the perfect Halloween picture of their children.
The Hackley Community looks forward to the iconic Halloween Parade every year. The Halloween Parade allows lower school students to show off their Halloween spirit and display fun, unique, and spooky costumes.
Lower school students, suited up in their Halloween outfits and rocking big smiles, walk the path around Akin Common. Middle and upper school students, whose teachers have made an exception and dismissed them from class, cheer the lower schoolers on as they pass by. Every Hackley student is allowed to dress down, welcoming the opportunity for all students to wear a costume and get into the Halloween spirit, regardless of their ability to attend the parade.
“It was such a full circle moment being a senior and cheering on the lower schoolers. I was reminded of looking forward to dressing up when I was in lower school,” said senior Fox Quattrone.
Throughout the day, some middle school students watched movies such as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown during their classes, and most took advantage of the dress–down to show off their fun Halloween costumes, which revealed some of their interests, such as their favorite TV show or movie characters, or foods they love such as Cup Noodles and pizza.
Upper school students gathered at the Kroger Arch during community time to watch and participate in a Halloween costume competition led by Community Council. The categories to win were best duo costume, best group costume, and best homemade costume. Winners took home a bucket of Halloween candy as their prize.
Upper school students sent Candy Grams to each other during the week before Halloween, and on Halloween day, they participated in a costume competition. The Community Council organized this to encourage upper schoolers to dress up, channel their creativity, and bring their best Halloween spirit to school. The categories to win in the competition were: funniest costume, best duo costume, best group costume, and best homemade costume. Senior Linda Ohia-Enyia, who dressed up as game show host Steve Harvey, won the prize for the funniest costume.
“I was very happy, I put a lot of effort into my costume, and especially my senior year, I wanted to go out with a banger,” Linda said.
Caitlin Morrow as Bo Peep and Lola Frey as Mr. Potato Head won the best duo contest. Costumes of other contestants included Gravity Falls characters, Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat, and upper school Geometry and Biology teacher Kerry Clingen and her pet turtle.
The prize for best group costume went to seniors Ethan Newinski and Lucia Butterfield, junior Will Linnett, and freshman Hayden Price, who dressed up as Scooby Doo characters together. Other contestants included Crumbl cookies and characters from Little Red Riding Hood.
Sophomore Troy Song dressed as a Roman gladiator, and Freshman Amity Doyle dressed as Marie Antonette, tied to win best homemade costume.
All winners were awarded large buckets of Halloween candy, and all participants in the competition who drive to school each day were entered in a raffle to win one month’s permission to park in the middle school lot.
The most popular costume in the upper school was Alvin and the Chipmunks. Four groups of students dressed up in this costume and competed in the competition. Dressing up as musical artists was also popular among the upper school, with costumes such as Tyler the Creator, Future, and Metro Boomin.
Beyond the students, many teachers also took this opportunity to show off their best costumes. Lower school teachers dressed in a variety of costumes including butterflies, minions, and pumpkins, and even some unique homemade costumes, including crayon boxes and dinosaurs. Upper school teachers also brought their spirit with costumes such as Harold the Dog and Rosie the Riveter.
