“Montrose goes hard on halloween” one students exclaimed in response to this crazy day. Indeed, Halloween is always a celebration at Montrose. Over 200 Montrose students and faculty members charged into the building in varied garb: from a Happy Meal, Gandalf and Bilbo, to Mrs. Peacock from Clue. It was common for teachers to hand out candy during class or announce, “No homework!”
As usual, the sophomores spooked Montrosians with a creepy toy store-themed haunted hallway. To the veteran student or teacher, this is the drill every year for October 31st, but for many first year Montrosians and faculty members, Halloween was as never before. Some smartly dressed students enthusiastically shared their opinions on what sets Montrose Halloween Festivities apart.
For some international students, walking into Montrose on Halloween was a bit of a culture shock. Marta ‘14 from Spain explained, “We don’t really celebrate it.” She added that “when you are 15, you stop dressing up. Only kids dress up.” This is a stark contrast from Montrose! “No one decorates their houses” either, she noted. When asked about the difference between Montrose Halloween and Halloween in China, junior Shubo ‘15 replied, “in China people do not celebrate Halloween, so this experience was really new and fun to me.” She went on, “it really impressed me that students as well as teachers at Montrose were so creative and energetic, especially in the costumes part and haunted hall way. Also, everybody participated in Halloween and I felt a strong sense of Montrose spirit. I enjoyed it so much.”
Giving a Mexican perspective on the day, Maria ‘18 said, “ we couldn’t dress up at school and not many people went trick or treating. Halloween is not as popular in Mexico. Celebrating here was so much fun; I went trick or treating for the second time ever.”
You don’t have to be from another country to appreciate these Montrose traditions. The sixth graders and other new students were very excited about the Montrose Halloween experience. When asked how they would describe this wacky day, a sixth grade tech class shouted out things like “fun, but creepy” and “awesome: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious awesome!” Anna Rubenacke ‘15 compared Montrose Halloween to that of the private school she went to last year, saying, “It is pretty similar except we didn’t do the haunted hallway. Also people get more into it here!”
Well, in 2013, with no hurricane Sandy to worry us, Montrose Halloween was business as usual. The students presented their costumes in the morning. There were middle school and high school finalists, a middle school and high school winner, a faculty winner, and an all school winner.
The middle school finalists were: Gandalf and Bilbo, a Mcdonalds Happy Meal, and Montrose Student I.D’s. A cheering contest declared the Happy Meal as the winner. For high school, the “formal apology,” a character from the movie Up cand the Hump Day Geico Commercial made it into the final round, with the Up characters victorious in the end. The entire senior class was the “Trose-Mont” tribe. Styling kilts around their shoulders, they were the all-school winners.
