Halloween has now come and gone. But, at Woodland it created memories for the senior class that will last a life time.

For many years now, dressing up for Halloween has been a senior privilege at Woodland. After anxiously waiting for four years, seniors were finally able to construct their Halloween costumes. On October 31, spirit bubbled in the senior hallway.

Prior to Halloween, members of Woodland Worldwide presented the “Get Real” pledge to all of the seniors during advisory in the auditorium. This presentation was an effort made by the organization to ensure that the girls of the senior class would be wearing only appropriate costumes to school.

Following the assembly, the senior girls were asked to sign the pledge.

According to Meghan Hatch, co-advisor of Woodland Worldwide, the pledge states, “I pledge not to wear a costume that degrades, demeans, stereotypes, or objectify me. I will not wear a costume that takes advantage of the fact that I am a female or which will take away from my intelligence or who I really am.”
After learning the rules for the costumes and signing the pledge students were free to continue the tradition. So on Halloween, students came to school dressed in their costumes.

During advisory, all of the seniors reported to the auditorium to present their costumes to the judging panel and fellow classmates. The categories in the costume contest were most creative, best group, most entertaining, best couple, and best homemade costume.

Several groups and individuals presented their costumes on stage. The best “homemade costume” went to Samantha Lee and Katie Nemec. The girls wore Depends diapers, t-shirts and bibs. They also had pigtails to show their adolescence. They sucked on pacifiers as they crawled across the stage. They dragged their blankies and teddy bears like real infants would.

In the “best group” category, The Mario Kart group raced to the finish in order to take the win. With Anthony D’Agnone as Princess Peach, Derek Laprade as Wario, Eric Smith as Toad, Morgan Douglas as Luigi, and Jesse Salerno as Mario, the group was destined to win the competition. They made homemade carts out of cardboard, duct tape , and rope, like the Mario Cart characters would have. While doing their stage performance, D’Agnone threw a banana peel on the stage and the other cars slipped and slid, bumping into each other, just like the real game.

While all of the costumes were fantastic, the hit of the entire afternoon was certainly Shane Classey and Nate Taylor. They certainly won over the audience with their on-stage skit. Classey walked on stage and put his leaf-covered arms around his head to make himself appear as a tree. Taylor, dressed as a lumberjack, walked over the “tree”, brandishing an axe. He pretended to hit Classey three times, like a real lumberjack chopping down a tree. On the third hit, Classey toppled over onto his side. Taylor then proceeded to drag Classey off the stage. The crowd went wild for their creative display. Classey and Taylor were perhaps the most entertaining of the day, earning them titles of most original, best couple, and most entertaining out of all the competitors.

With great costumes and entertaining performances Halloween was a huge success at Woodland this year. And we are very proud to report that Woodland kept it classy this Halloween season!