Holmes freshmen making plans as Halloween creeping up

With Halloween arriving soon, three ninth graders from Holmes—Maya Lin, Chloe Davis and Sam Miller—are going all out to make this year memorable. Since this is their first year in “high school”, they wanted to do something bigger than just walking around the neighborhood randomly like they used to in middle school. They have been planning every single detail for over a month now, and each person has a specific job to make sure the night is a total success.

Maya Lin-The Haunted House Host

Maya Lin decided to take on the biggest decorating job by turning her entire front porch and driveway into a mini haunted house for trick or treaters. She is going as a vampire, wearing a costume she put together using an old velvet dress from a thrift store and custom fake teeth.

For the past two weeks, Lin has spent her weekends making paper bats to hang from the trees, setting up motion activated fog machines and hiding bluetooth speakers on the roof to play creepy music and thunder sounds.

“I really want to give the elementary students and younger kids a fun scare before giving them their treats,” Lin said during English class earlier this week. “My parents helped me buy a bunch of full sized candy bars, so if people are brave enough to walk through the fog up to my door, they definitely get a reward.”

Lin plans to stay on her porch for the first hour of trick or treating to manage the fog machine and scare them before joining the other girls for their walk around town.

Chloe Davis-The Pumpkin Artist

Chloe Davis is in charge of the visual aesthetics and decorations for the group’s road. Known around school for her amazing art projects, Davis made an astronaut costume entirely from scratch using spray painted cardboard, a moveable tube for the arms, and lots of silver duct tape. She even put a small light inside her helmet so it glows in the dark.

Besides her own outfit, Davis has spent the last three afternoons carving 10 huge pumpkins that she saved up the money to buy at the pumpkin patch. Instead of using regular candles that blow out in the wind, she is using bright green and purple glow sticks inside each one to create a cool lighting effect.

“Halloween is easily the best holiday for art,” Davis said while finishing her final pumpkin design. “Before it gets dark, I am setting up my pumpkin trail along Orchard Drive. Once the sun goes down completely, our group is going to walk through it and then head over to the College Square Mall to participate in the costume contest AND WIN.”

Sam Miller-The Candy Route Expert

While Lin handles the scares and Davis handles the art, Sam Miller is strictly focused on the candy haul. Miller is dressing up as a mad scientist, with a white lab coat covered in glowing yellow paint splatters, protective goggles and frizzy hair held up with hair gel. 

He spent three days studying a map of the neighborhoods to make the perfect trick or treating route. By looking at which streets have the most houses close together and asking upperclassmen which neighborhoods give out the best treats, Miller came up with a map printed out on heavy paper.

“We cannot just wander around randomly like we did in eighth grade,” Sam pointed out while showing off the color coded map. “We have a strict two hour window before houses start running out of candy. We are starting on Oak Street because the houses there are closer together and the owners always hand out king sized bars early.”