Halloween Happenings
Written by Lindsey Hutt and Lola Illies
During this Halloween season, the Upper School at Providence Academy came together for many Halloween activities, many of which are traditions at PA. However there were also creative new events to celebrate the Halloween season this year.
One of the House Halloween traditions in the Upper School is decorating the doors of each House. On Wednesday of Halloween week, the halls were filled with students working hard to decorate their doors and create spooky “Haunted Houses.” This tradition has been an amazing way for students to get to know their housemates and form a bond with each other. These “Haunted Houses” brought the hallways to life with Halloween spirit and got everyone excited for the rest of the week’s festivities.
Nu House was one of these Houses. The Nu House members worked hard to create a “Trick or Pete” door, a Pete the Cat themed door using colored paper, glitter, and bats. Audrey Steeves, ‘27, a member of the Nu House, helped decorate their door and gave inspiration for their idea.
Math teacher Mrs. Roden’s classroom door, decorated by her House, for Halloween. PAW Photo Credit: Peyton Johnson.
“Decorating our door brought us together as a house because we all pitched in to make it together and got to spend time getting to know each other better,” Steeves said.
The Eta house won the door decorating contest with their “Dia de los Muertos” themed door that captivated the attention of many walking by with their fun Day of the Dead themed decorations.
To involve the Lower School students, members of the National Honors Society hosted a Trunk or Treat experience for the students to enjoy. Due to the snowy weather, the location of this event had to be moved from the trunk of students’ cars outside to inside, near the gymnasiums. Regardless of these adjustments, the NHS members were still able to provide a fun and enjoyable Halloween experience for the Lower Schoolers, giving them an opportunity to take a break from their everyday learning to dress up and trick or treat at Providence.
Pre-K students, dressed for the annual Ladybug Ball, parade through PA’s hallways for all to enjoy their Halloween costumes. PAW Photo Credit: Meg Milovich.
One NHS member, Delaney Flanigan, ‘25, hosted a Chick-fil-a themed station for the Lower School students. Flangian has been a member for several years and looks forward to the trunk or treat each year.
“Seeing the joy on their faces and how much they look forward to trick or treating and dressing up make all the work we put into it worth it,” Flangian said.
Another Upper School tradition is the pumpkin decorating and carving contest. Each brother and sister House gets the chance to carve and paint pumpkins that correspond to each other. This year, the theme was “Princesses and Villains.” Every House worked hard to bring their pumpkins to life. Many Houses bought Halloween treats and played festive music to get into the Halloween spirit.
This year the Beta and Rho brother and sister Houses won the pumpkin decorating contest for their Ursula and Little mermaid themed pumpkins.
The pumpkin decorating is a way to bring brother and sister Houses together while doing something fun for the Halloween season. Senior House Leader Lauren Damberg, ‘25, was a key contributor to her House’s pumpkin decorating.
“The pumpkin decorating is a great way to bond with the people in your House and it’s fun to be able to coordinate with our brother House when choosing our characters and making them,” Damberg said.
Being a House leader is a fun way to connect with House members and build a bond with peers and see the coordinated plans be brought to life when everyone works together.
To conclude this year’s Halloween activities, the Letters of Love club President Audrey Ebertz, ‘25, organized a fall fundraiser to raise money for the Letters of Love Global Organization, centered around spreading joy by giving letters to children in hospitals.
Students were invited to donate a minimum of $5 to give to charity and be entered in a raffle to win “Boo Baskets” filled with lots of fun fall goodies. Many Upper School students contributed to this new tradition due to the good cause it represents. The proceeds for the Boo Baskets went to the Letters of Love Global Organization which provides clubs with supplies and distributes cards to hospitals all over the country.
“Donations are important to keep Letters of Love strong by bringing joy to children by making cards and delivering them, and without the necessary supplies we wouldn’t be able to do that,” Ebertz said.
The Boo Baskets were a big success in the Upper School this year. The Letters of Love club was able to raise $315 and they will continue this new tradition yearly.
Halloween is a fun holiday to celebrate all throughout Providence Academy and new and creative ways to celebrate will continue to blossom each year creating memories that will last a lifetime.