High School students gathered in the ceramics room last Tuesday, for a time to express their creativity through pumpkin carving. The event was after school and marked the Art Club’s second meeting of October. All students, regardless of being members of the club, were welcome to participate. 

Students that attended had a choice between bringing their own pumpkins to school, or pre-purchasing their own for a small fee. The Art Club’s sponsor, Mrs. Hakos-Hruby, provided sodas and ordered pizza for everyone to indulge in while carving.

The majority of participants already had experience in carving pumpkins, like ninth grader Emily Schoedel who says she carves every year with her family. The design she chose was “scared Patrick Star”, a character from the Nickelodeon TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. Emily says that carving pumpkins is enjoyable for her and especially likes doing challenging designs, like Patrick Star. 

Many other students were unique with their designs and dedicated their time and effort to the activity. Ninth grader, Leah DiPippa, says she was inspired by Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but she wanted hers to stand out. “Since everyone usually does Jack as a pumpkin, I wanted to make it my own,'' she says. Leah also pointed out that she never really had her designed planned, instead she “just went with it.” 

Though the turnout was a small group of kids with roughly twelve students, all of them seemed glad to have attended having had such a positive experience. “I would for sure do it again'' says ninth grader Edgar Castro, “It was really fun and I can express myself.

Just like Edgar, most of the students would agree that the experience was fun. And with every experience, there is something to learn from it. Of the three interviewees, Emily learned how to socialize and how fun it can be to interact with new people. Edgar, though he was unsure having been so focused on carving, learned an effective way to express himself. And Leah learned that she was able to make her pumpkin look good even without having a plan.