As the cold winter approaches and fall sports come to a close, the whole Delbarton community celebrates the fantastical holiday of Halloween. Walking through the halls of the school, students in costumes—whether unnoticeable, outrageous, or anything in between—were a more than common sight.

Every year, the student body gathers in the FAC auditorium for the Halloween Costume Contest. About thirty contestants tried their hand this time around, vying for the bragging rights of having the best costume in the school. The contest was led by Student Body President Liam Higgins, who himself dressed quite stylishly as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. As the president does every year, he allowed each student to say a few words, or give a quick performance, and then listened to see what all the students thought. Moving down the line, students stepped off in (usually) graceful defeat, or rode the wave of applause onto the next round. After around 7 rounds, only two contestants were left on the stage…

Among the eliminated contestants, Joe Sciales ’17 showed off his exceptional gymnastic skills in his Water Bottle Flipping costume. Wrapped in plastic, he began with a ‘flip’ (for those unfamiliar, water bottle flipping has, inexplicably, become quite a fad at Delbarton). Sadly, he ran out of moves eventually. Matthew Harper ’18 (our own Delbarton Life Section Editor) ‘dressed’ as Eleven from the new hit Netflix show, Stranger Things, but he and his Eggo waffles did not last. Chris deGrandpre ’17 made it quite far as Neo from The Matrix. Timmy Maguire ’18 showed off a definitively unusual costume, apparently his rendition of Big Bird. In addition to one Hillary Clinton and one “Hillary Clinton’s emails”, three Donald Trumps dotted the stage, including Jack Chambers ’17 (who reprised the role from last year’s One Acts). The largest costumes on the stage were of a giant panda and a T-Rex. A few students also dressed as various animals.

The two finalists, however, outmatched all opponents with their costumes. Josh Ryan ’19 dressed as a Jedi Warrior, and rarely needed to even speak to get the audience to clap for him. However, the big winner was Kevin Schroeder ’17, who provided a curious portrayal of Grave VanderWaal, the 12 year old who won last season of America’s Got Talent. Kevin’s ukulele playing and singing were not quite up to the standards set by Grace, but the costume was certainly a comedic hit.

Many other students who did not participate in the contest also dressed for the occasion. There were dogs, more Trumps, and celebrities. I did notice a lack of killer clowns, thankfully. I personally dressed up as The Dude from The Big Lebowski, as I am known to do every year. This time, however, I wore special contacts that essentially zombie-fied my eyes, hidden underneath my sunglasses. There was no shortage of great costumes.

At the lunch room, SAGE Dining served special Halloween cookies and dressed up in their own costumes. After the costume contest, many students in costume gathered outside for a massive picture filled with creepy and comedic characters alike.