For many college students and young adults, Halloween still holds as much excitement as it did when we were children. As we grow older, however, our Halloween activities tend to change from trick or treating to social gatherings in costumes. This year, the students at ENC shared some of their ways of celebrating the holiday.

Many students went to Salem on Halloween night. Salem is in the north of Boston and is famous for the witch trials that occurred there in the 1600s.  Having leaned into its occult history in recent years, Salem is the perfect place to go for spooky fun on Halloween. There are many places to visit, including a witch cemetery and witch homes. The city also hosts a Hallo555 ween carnival. Gina Lozano, who dressed as the artist “Post Malone,” said she had a lot of fun when she visited. Another student, Andrew Hobson, visited the city and said, “I had a lot of fun seeing the witch cemetery.” He also commented that there was a great variety of ages present. It seems that on Halloween, no matter what the age is, people still delight in exploring spooky places and dressing up as something they are not.

Niki Ghosh, a communication arts student at ENC, celebrated Halloween by going to see the recently released movie “Halloween.” Watching scary movies on or near Halloween is a common tradition among many young people and “Halloween” is the latest addition to the famous slasher franchise about the serial killer Michael Myers. Ghosh reviewed the movie as, “good, but not great.” He felt that certain scenes happened too quickly and were not realistic. However, other than seeing the movie, it was just an ordinary day to him.

Other students went to Chipotle which offers a discount on their main entree meals on Halloween for those in costumes. Mya Timms took advantage of the deal and dressed as a Lakers player to get her Chipotle burrito. After that, she also stopped by the Harvest Festival for a treat. Jazmine Sudler also went to Chipotle dressed up as a panda. Her family sent a Halloween care package sent to her from which she ate most of it on Halloween. She wishes she could have gone trick-or-treating, but none of her friends wanted to go because they felt too old for that.

Finally, on campus, the junior class hosted a harvest festival on the Mann patio. There were snack stations including chips, hot chocolate, kettle corn, Rice Krispy treats, a fondue station, and, of course, candy. There was also a corn hole game set up on the lawn. Students were able to show off their costumes and socialize with each other. There was even an award for the best costume, a testament to the fact that dressing up as someone/something else for a day is a fun escape. Jenna Meacham was among the students who participated. She states, “There was a decent amount of people and fun snacks, but not a whole lot to do.” Nonetheless, this event offered a safe place to dress up and celebrate with friends on Halloween night.