One hundred elementary kids lined the faculty parking lot at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27. High school teams and clubs greeted cats, princesses, pirates, Ender Dragons and even Pennywise walking across campus in search of candy and some Halloween spirit during the first annual Trunk or Treat event. Though I was not a participant, I enjoyed watching the excitement from the kids, parents and high schoolers as they prepared the trunks and passed out candy. Halloween music filled the air, topping off the spooky adventure.

I ranked my top five favorite trunks on creativity, activity incorporation and participation. After all, a creative and thought-out design can make or break a trunk. For activity incorporation, I looked for the group’s ability to promote their activity through their design while staying true to the Halloween spirit. Last but not least is participation; the number of activity members who passed out candy, dressed in costumes and interacted with kids made the event more engaging and worthwhile. Now that we’ve gone over the categories let’s start ranking.

Fifth Place: Girl’s Tennis

Coming in fifth place is the girl’s tennis trunk. Senior Hope Green and sophomore McKinlay Loveless arrived early enough to set up the trunk by themselves, including hanging decor, streamers, balloons and interior spider webs. While not many of the girls on the team participated, these two had so much heart and dedication they made up for it. Themed decor and those hilarious costumes ensured they made the leaderboard, but some incorporation of tennis and a few more athletes would have gone a long way.

Fourth Place: Girls Volleyball

With spider netting, mummy cloth, decorative spiders and enough candy to make kids light up and parents loathe them, the girl’s volleyball trunk had a clear theme and ran with it. Their forethought was obvious, although I wish they would’ve incorporated their activity into the design. However, many volleyball girls showed out, with some even running in other trunks at the same time. I adored the makeshift pipe cleaner spider headbands, ranking this trunk high for participation and creativity. Overall, the girls had an amazing idea and did a great job dedicating themselves to the spider theme, but I could not tell that this was the girl’s volleyball trunk without asking.

Third Place: Varsity Cheer

In third comes varsity cheer’s trunk. Seniors Brody Barnhart, Abigail Wheeler and Grace Fotheringham decided on a red and blue streamer-filled cheerleading theme, making sure to sneak some Halloween decals onto Barnhart’s pickup truck — named Greta — that may never come off. The car was parked at the front of the lot, and the three did a wonderful job welcoming nervous kids over, making them laugh and get comfortable. This enthusiasm and unfeigned high spirit make up for the cheer team’s low show; without them, the turnout and overall mood of the event would not have been the same.

Second Place: Asian-Based Celebration Club

Juniors Suraiya Saroar, Achyuta Ambal, Emily Early and Serena Liu married Asian culture and Halloween wonderfully with pumpkins and scarecrows amid Chinese Lanterns, landing the Asian-Based Celebration (ABC) Club in second place. Although they didn’t dress up in costumes, I realized their dedication was superior when I saw they had two bowls of candy — one with American candy and one with Asian candy — and were explaining how different cultures celebrate holidays to each kid. This made it very evident that they care about the club and enjoyed the event. 

The winner goes to . . . Key Club!

I was floored when I saw Key Club’s finished trunk. The commitment to the spider theme was flawless, while the incorporation of their club with original and creative cut-out paper keys stuck in the webs gave them full marks in creativity. And, of course, you can never go wrong with a clever pun. Seniors Joudi Kaziz, Cece Watts, Victoria Neeser, and juniors Lauren Holcomb and Serena Liu had the plan, the devotion and a few costumes to complete the look that put them over the top for me.

Overall, I had a great time, and the kids did. Seeing my classmates take time out of their Thursday night to come and support our community was heart-warming and entertaining. These are my top five, but you can tell us your favorite by taking the poll below. Happy Halloween!

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Ashlyn Gillespie

Junior Emily Early explains why the Asian-Based Celebration (ABC) Club has one bowl of American candy and one bowl of Asian candy to Transformer Optimus Prime. As a club member, Early helped create a trunk and pass out candy with her friends. "[The kids] were all so cute, and the costumes were so fun. You could tell they were genuinely interested in the club and listened to us when we told them about it," Early said.