As the trees shed their fall colors, the bare branches catch more of the moonlight. The sunsets creep earlier, frosts stretch across the lawns, and campus grows subtly quieter. It can be both a beautiful and eerie time of year in New England. With Thanksgiving just weeks away, the attention of our community turns to Halloween and other locally celebrated events such as harvest festivals, corn mazes, and haunted houses. In particular, Halloween provides inspiration for several activities on campus. From costumes to the Faculty Find, trick or treating to scary movies, here is an inside preview of this year’s Halloween festivities.
The Perfect Costume
Costumes play a big role in our celebrations. Students are encouraged to wear them to the annual Halloween dance, hosted on campus in Memorial Hall, and of course, when trick-or-treating. The costume contest held during school meeting is a highlight for all. Each year, students and faculty alike compete for best costumes in various categories, such as best group costume, most original, scariest, and others. This is also a fun way to experience a non-typical class dress day as the costumes travel from school meeting to classes and the dining hall. Costumes vary from homemade creations to the latest trends from movies and pop culture.
After Friday’s day-long fun, the weekend holds special events to extend the experience through until Halloween evening on Sunday. Saturday includes Dia de Los Muertos craft activities, pumpkin pie baking, and excursions to nearby haunted houses and corn mazes. Sunday will test the carving skills of our Huskies as they reimagine a pumpkin into a lantern followed by trick or treating on campus.
Other fun games and traditions run throughout the weekend, including pumpkin carving, contests, and caramel apple decorating. Students also experience a greater depth to the family atmosphere on campus as the youngest members of our community, the faculty children, venture out with their parents, winding their way between the houses on campus to trick-or-treat. These moments, along with decor on campus, set the stage for a classic Halloween. Bales of hay, cornstalks, pumpkins, mums, and gourds, offer a harvest-inspired look in corners, beneath welcoming signs, on house porches, and in common rooms. Faculty, students, families, and pups alike will partake in and enjoy many of these activities.
New this year, Mrs. Williams has invited all the dogs and pups of Husky Nation to join Bentley and Bowdoin in dressing up for Halloween in an exclusive canine party—Howl-oween! Find them on Kennedy Field on Sunday and see who is the best-dressed pup in New Hampton!
Last of the Fall Celebrations
Though fall feels like it just began, it will rapidly come to a close. It’s an important time for our school community to enjoy all that our area in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire has to offer. Homecoming and Thanksgiving Break linger on the horizon and help us reflect on the school year so far. Looking back at Orientation Trips, Voices of New Hampton, Founder’s Day Service Learning, Foliage Day, and all of the bonding experiences we have experienced together as a community, we can’t help but be grateful for this season. We look forward to not only the treats of the season but the rewards of finishing a strong fall in the weeks ahead.