Fall hasn’t really begun until Halloween rolls in. Pumpkins, candy and scary movies are all sure signs that Halloween is here. Harvard-Westlake students participated in a fun–filled day on the middle school campus by dressing up and getting candy from teachers. Some teachers at Harvard-Westlake dressed up as well.

“I’ve always loved dressing up for Halloween. I like making costumes that are classically themed so that my students can learn a little mythology during the day. This year I was Thetis, the sea goddess mother of Achilles,” Latin teacher Mercedes Barletta said.

Out of 147 survey respondents, about 85.5 percent dressed up for Halloween. About 22.2 percent of surveyed students believe that students stop dressing up when they are 14 to 15 years old, and 18.8 percent believe that students stop dressing up when they are older than 18. Students may feel Halloween is too childish or that they are too busy to dress up. To celebrate Halloween, about 36.1 percent of the students surveyed went trick-or-treating, 26.4 percent of students are hanging out with friends 25 percent of students are going to a party. 12.5 percent of the students surveyed did not participate in Halloween festivities. Over a third of students said their favorite part of Halloween was by far the candy. Other students enjoyed dressing up and seeing their friends’ costumes as well as going trick-or-treating.

“I think that Halloween is a great holiday. It reminds us to put a little magic in our lives. It also shows how great it is to be yourself. Because I’m sure dressing up as someone else everyday would have to get tiring at some point.” Lola Cortez ‘22 wrote in the survey.