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Haunting highlights

Two weeks of halloween festivities
Blending together a concoction for a science experiment, science teacher Joel Anderson scares his students by bringing excitement and thrill into his classroom for his annual Halloween show.  It took about six weeks for Anderson to set up his classroom for the show. “It’s pure terror. I came up with this idea a couple decades ago to do something fun for Halloween. So I pretend to be this mad scientist [that creates] a Frankenstein-like creature [with the class], learning a little bit of science along the way and [then ending] with a laser show. It’s just for fun; entertainment value,” Anderson said.
Blending together a concoction for a science experiment, science teacher Joel Anderson scares his students by bringing excitement and thrill into his classroom for his annual Halloween show. It took about six weeks for Anderson to set up his classroom for the show. “It’s pure terror. I came up with this idea a couple decades ago to do something fun for Halloween. So I pretend to be this mad scientist [that creates] a Frankenstein-like creature [with the class], learning a little bit of science along the way and [then ending] with a laser show. It’s just for fun; entertainment value,” Anderson said.
Cindy Phung
Monsters in the lab

 

From Oct. 17 to 31, the West High campus hosted several Halloween events, engaging in a multitude of traditions and festivities. From special sports team practices to crafts and event productions, students and teachers alike showed off their spirit in a variety of different ways.

On Oct. 29 and 30, chemistry teacher Joel Anderson performed his annual Anderson Halloween show for his classes. Lasting about 15 minutes, the show involves a mad scientist character played by Anderson who is creating a Frankenstein-like creature. Anderson ends the show with a light show set to techno music. The show combines chemistry concepts relative to what the students have been learning in class.

“[Anderson] had been talking about [the show] and warning us for months so I was very hyped for the show and definitely was not disappointed,” junior Amelia Bothman said. “It wasn’t what I expected at all and there were a lot of unexpected surprises when he scared us. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to laugh along with everyone.”

It takes Anderson about six weeks to set up the show and prepare the props. While he used to practice ahead of the show, now he only reads through the script briefly. As he performs, he keeps a script under his desk.

“[The show is] fun for me and hopefully it’s fun for the students to have a little diversion [from class],” Anderson said. “Chemistry isn’t the most exciting topic for everyone, so I sprinkle in a little bit of something to make it more fun, enjoyable and exciting.”

Dressed in crisp suits, senior Brooke Hoenecke (middle) poses with seniors Shirah Ramaji (right) and Risa Cidoni (left). The trio chose to dress up as Men in Black for the Halloween practice. “[My favorite part was] getting to spend time with some of the [junior varsity] members. We don’t get to hang out with them and socialize as much because we practice with varsity only,” Hoenecke said.
Dressed in crisp suits, senior Brooke Hoenecke (middle) poses with seniors Shirah Ramaji (right) and Risa Cidoni (left). The trio chose to dress up as Men in Black for the Halloween practice. “[My favorite part was] getting to spend time with some of the [junior varsity] members. We don’t get to hang out with them and socialize as much because we practice with varsity only,” Hoenecke said. (Yein Ahn)
Frighteningly fun field hockey

On Oct. 17, girls field hockey held their annual Halloween practice. The players came dressed up in various costumes, where they split into Horns Up Cup teams and competed against each other in various activities. There are four Horns Up Cup teams, which remain the same each year as seniors graduate and rising freshmen fill their spots. Throughout the season, they have several chances to compete and win points. At the end of the season, the team with the most points becomes the champion and gets their name engraved on the Horns Up Cup.

This year, the girls competed in a lip sync battle, a scavenger hunt and several relay races. Each year, the final winner is announced at the end-of-season banquet. Senior Ava Prsha has been on the winning team, “Wolf Pack,” for the past three years.

“I’m hoping we win [this year] because we’ve won every year since I was a freshman,” Prsha said. “Our biggest strength is we’re all competitive and athletic.”

Senior and varsity captain Jenna Eickmeier has been on the field hockey team all four years. This year, she dressed up as a farmer with her friend and teammate, senior Hannah Zaiser who was a pig.

“Making up the dance was the best part,” Eickmeier said. “We danced to “Waka Waka” by Shakira. We were trying to watch the Just Dance version of it but we had to improvise a bit.”

Concentrating on her pumpkin, senior Sophie Crutcher (left) paints with a small brush. As Best Buddies members painted Inside Out characters, Crutcher chose Sadness. “[My favorite part] is the experience of hanging out with everybody and seeing everyone’s pumpkins,” Crutcher said.
Concentrating on her pumpkin, senior Sophie Crutcher (left) paints with a small brush. As Best Buddies members painted Inside Out characters, Crutcher chose Sadness. “[My favorite part] is the experience of hanging out with everybody and seeing everyone’s pumpkins,” Crutcher said. (Yein Ahn)
Pumpkin palette party

On Oct. 23, the library hosted a pumpkin painting event during Ac Lab and encouraged students to participate. On one side of the library, students who signed up beforehand could paint pumpkins of various sizes and shapes with fun colors. On the other side of the library, Best Buddies, a program that connects people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), offered the same opportunity for its club members to interact with one another and paint pumpkins together.

Freshman Sid Furnish also participated in the Best Buddies pumpkin painting. The Best Buddies members were painting characters from Inside Out, and Furnish chose to paint anger.

“I’ve known about the Best Buddies program and I heard about [the] pumpkin painting, so I decided to sign up,” Furnish said. “[My favorite part] is working with my friend. It’s fun to talk and paint even though it was a little hard because we had small pumpkins.”

Some students like senior Gianna Lionelli came to pumpkin painting with her friends. Many students, like Lionelli, decided to paint movie characters for their pumpkins.

“I [made] a minion because of the new “Minions” movie that just came out and my favorite color is yellow,” Gianna Lionelli said. “This is dedicated to [senior] Sally Peters, because my sophomore year of high school, her idea was to dress up as minions for Halloween, which was perfect.”

Leaning against a car, varsity girls tennis team member and sophomore Mireya David converses with a mother carrying a child. Members of the team joined together to celebrate Halloween and finish off the season with the trunk or treat event. “The little kids are so cute and seeing them dressed up in little costumes is a lot of fun,” David said.
Leaning against a car, varsity girls tennis team member and sophomore Mireya David converses with a mother carrying a child. Members of the team joined together to celebrate Halloween and finish off the season with the trunk or treat event. “The little kids are so cute and seeing them dressed up in little costumes is a lot of fun,” David said. (Yein Ahn)
Goblins and goodies

On Wednesday, Oct. 30, West High hosted the annual Trunk or Treat in the North Parking Lot from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. This annual event allows clubs and sports to set up their trunks for elementary and West High feeder school students to participate.

Trunk or Treat offers an opportunity for West High clubs and sports teams to give out candy to younger students while also spreading information about programs. Varsity girls golf coach Gretchen Gregory and members of the girls golf team set up a trunk for Trunk or Treat.

“The girls golf team came out in wonderful costumes to give some candy out,” Gregory said. “We also had a Putt-Putt without the putter so [kids] can try to kick the ball into the hole.”

Like every year, Longhorn Council is in charge of organizing the Trunk or Treat event. This year, it took about a month to set up and facilitate different clubs and sports teams.

“Trunk or Treat shows elementary schoolers how fun high school is. School spirit is also a major part [of Trunk or Treat] because of all the clubs,” sophomore Adam Thomas said. “[The purpose of] Trunk or Treat is to make kids feel happy and ready for Halloween.”

Sophomore Joe McCurdy (center), characterized as Mr. Green in the theater’s production of “Clue: On Stage” sits between two dead bodies. The task of each character was to make sure the bodies wouldn’t be discovered by the police that would soon be arriving. “In the picture, I’m squeezed between two characters and trying to get off of the couch without disturbing them. It’s definitely one of my favorite moments to act because it’s such an outlandish situation and it’s all purely physical comedy, which I love to do,” McCurdy said
Sophomore Joe McCurdy (center), characterized as Mr. Green in the theater’s production of “Clue: On Stage” sits between two dead bodies. The task of each character was to make sure the bodies wouldn’t be discovered by the police that would soon be arriving. “In the picture, I’m squeezed between two characters and trying to get off of the couch without disturbing them. It’s definitely one of my favorite moments to act because it’s such an outlandish situation and it’s all purely physical comedy, which I love to do,” McCurdy said (Yein Ahn)
Whodunit hunt: Clue on the loose

In September, actors across campus gathered together to audition for the fall play “Clue: On Stage.” Over the course of two months, the selected cast and crew spent weeks rehearsing lines and transitions, the outcome of which became the show that will be featured in the auditorium on Nov. 1, 2 and 3.

The play is a rendition of the board game and 1985 movie “Clue”. Actor and sophomore Joe McCurdy, who played Mr. Green was able to apply his expertise.

“I think performing my character had a steep learning curve. I’ve never played someone much older than I am and I had to reevaluate nearly everything I do onstage to respect my character’s age,” McCurdy said. “Over time I got more comfortable playing him, especially after I’d memorized and had the ability to experiment more and get more physical.”

Like McCurdy’s portrayal of an older character, junior Juliana Rodgers was tasked to play Mrs. Peacock, the wife of a senator who is also perceived as mature and elderly.

“This was my first time playing an older person, so it was really fun to try to find the voice, posture, and reactions that [Mrs. Peacock] would have at her age versus 16-year-old me,” Rodgers said. “My favorite part of rehearsing for the play was definitely being surrounded by such talented and wonderful people. Everyone genuinely cares for one another, no matter if you’re cast or crew. It’s been so amazing to see everyone’s passion throughout the process.”

Posing with their horns up, junior Lily Overmann (back row center) directs the campers for a group picture with her teammates. Each camper and dance team member had the chance to dress up in their halloween costume of choice. “I think the best experience overall has just been the community of the dance team with everybody. I feel like most of the girls are all really close, and we have a lot of fun together, and that makes [the season] really fun. It’s not just like we’re all working by ourselves, it’s a group [effort],” Overmann said.
Posing with their horns up, junior Lily Overmann (back row center) directs the campers for a group picture with her teammates. Each camper and dance team member had the chance to dress up in their halloween costume of choice. “I think the best experience overall has just been the community of the dance team with everybody. I feel like most of the girls are all really close, and we have a lot of fun together, and that makes [the season] really fun. It’s not just like we’re all working by ourselves, it’s a group [effort],” Overmann said. (Leshay Reed)
Trick or treat: Dance to the beat

On Oct. 20, Longhorn Line held a Halloween dance camp for kids in grades Kindergarten through fifth grade. The camp lasted from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. including various games, activities and a Halloween-themed dance routine.

The members of the Longhorn Line dance team were paired up and assigned to different grade levels. The practice before the Halloween camp, the dancers created the Halloween-themed dances that the kids would learn and perform. Senior Lydia Moellering partnered up with sophomore Valerie Vang and dressed up as characters from “101 Dalmatians.”

“Everyone gets split up into groups, and we come up with a Halloween themed dance for whatever grade we get put with. I got put with [the] fourth graders with [Vang], and we came up with a dance to “Calling All the Monsters.” It was a lot of fun. We played ships and sailors, but instead of that we did a Halloween version. We also did technical drills with the kids,” Moellering said.

Vang got the opportunity to meet new people through the experience of teaching dance to her younger peers. As a first-year member of the dance team, this was her first time helping out at the Halloween dance camp.

“For the most part, I got to meet and socialize with a lot of younger kids, which was really nice. Everyone dressed up in costumes, [which] was really cute. I loved seeing the kids [dress up as well] and a lot of the kids [told me they] liked my costume,” Vang said. “We learned the spirit sideline. It’s a dance that everyone learns and whenever they play it, the kids run to go do the dance, and that was really fun to [watch].”

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About the Contributors
Yein Ahn
Yein Ahn, News Editor
Pronouns: she/her Grade: 11 Years on staff: 2 Who is your favorite musician? Forrest Frank. What gets you up in the morning? The thought of getting through my day so I can go back to bed and sleep. What's an unpopular opinion that you have? I hate ketchup.
Esta Kamau
Esta Kamau, Features/Humans of West Editor
Pronouns: she/her Grade: 12 Years on staff: 4 Who is your favorite musician? Laufey. What gets you up in the morning? Knowing that I'll see people I have good connections with. What's an unpopular opinion that you have? Pickles and salt & vinegar chips are disgusting. I don't know why people love them so much. .
Cindy Phung
Cindy Phung, Editor-in-Chief
Pronouns: they/she Grade: 12 Years on staff: 4 Who is your favorite musician? Billie Eilish. What gets you up in the morning? Besides a cup of coffee, I look forward to eating good food with friends and sleeping again.
What's an unpopular opinion that you have? AI will take over and Cutelli will be its right hand man.