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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Kelsey Rohwer: Halloween brings out the kid in us

In my 19 years, Halloween has never let me down. From the time my parents stuffed my pumpkin costume with newspaper, to the time I defied all odds and made a Care Bear look slutty, Halloween has always been my favorite night of the year.

The holiday’s greatness extends beyond candy and the excuse to wear your underwear on the outside. Halloween is a holiday that everyone can participate in, and at GW, it serves as the brilliant end to midterms. Most importantly, it takes all the great things about being a kid and gives it a college twist.

Although its origins lie in the celebration of the end of summer, for us, Halloween unofficially serves as an end-of-midterms celebration. After weeks of 4 a.m. nights in Gel-Hell and caffeine-induced eye-twitching, the month of October blesses us with Halloween, the ultimate night to let loose. As far as college is concerned, on Halloween, we are all still children. We all dress up in ridiculous, overpriced costumes and gallivant about the city as if it were our own personal playground.

I could not fathom a better way to celebrate the end of midterms than reliving the most quintessential kid’s holiday. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Easter are all about the family, but Halloween is the only one that’s all about the kids. And let’s face it: College is the last time that we are going to fit into that demographic. Beyond college, celebrating Halloween as we do becomes less and less socially appropriate because of age. “Liquor-eating” and wearing thigh-highs aren’t as cute past the age of 25.

While GW is divided on some holidays like Thanksgiving – internationally – and Christmas – religiously – Halloween is something that we can all participate in. It unites the campus in ways the other holidays cannot. For one, there is no Halloween break, so instead of going home to celebrate it with our families, we all stick around campus and celebrate it together.

When you were a kid, Halloween was just one night. But, recognizing its true greatness, those of us in college have transformed it into a weekend-long event. Many of us are going to great lengths to coordinate parties and costumes. Thursday we wear corny costumes with our significant other, Friday we wear borderline porn-star costumes with our girlfriends and Saturday we wear dangerously clever costumes with our guy friends. At GW, Halloween is a united effort, and we all put our best clown shoe, cowboy boot or lace-up stiletto forward.

-The writer, a sophomore majoring in journalism, is a Hatchet columnist.

Readers can visit the Forum to comment on this column.

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