by Angel Stacey
With COVID-19 regulations in place, Whitworth students were forced to find non-traditional means of celebrating Halloween. Students and faculty came up with ways to enjoy Halloween regardless of the circumstances.
Jason Chapman, director of Student Activities, came up with an idea that would still get candy and smiles out to students who live off campus; he called the event “reverse trick or treat.”
“We got candy to about 270 people in 60 households. Some people ended up being too far away from campus or addresses were incomplete but that only dropped a couple of homes from our delivery list,” said senior David Martin, ASWU’s off-campus senator.
Many students dressed up either in their dorms or their off-campus homes. Since going out wasn’t a safe option this year, some students posted their costumes online in order to show others what they were wearing.
“My roommates and I stayed in and watched some Halloween movies and ate cookie dough in our costumes. We also took some pictures to post on Instagram. We didn’t want to go out and risk getting COVID,” freshman Ainsley Ortega said.
A movie night with costumes seemed to be a huge trend amongst students. Many also bought their own candy instead of going out to trick or treat.
“A lot of students are just celebrating with their housemates by buying a bag of candy and then just hanging out. My housemates and I, for instance, are currently dressed as characters from The Big Lebowski.” Martin said.
Costumes ranged anywhere from space cowgirls, an outfit popularized on TikTok, to political figures as students showed off both the latest trends and old favorites.
“Even though we couldn’t see people’s costumes in person it was still fun to look at their costumes on Instagram and Snapchat,” Ortega said.
Students made the most of the Halloween spirit and spent time together safely. Celebrating this way helped Whitworth “Protect the Crew” in their efforts to keep the school COVID-19 free.
“I didn’t mind staying in and dressing up with my roommates. We got to watch some of our Halloween favorites without having to risk COVID and we got some cute pictures out of it as well. I’m not mad at how the night turned out.” said Ortega.