When Earth becomes a playground for living souls and frightening spirits, the artistically driven students of OCSA are invited to spend the whole day in their best costumes. Today, October 31, shows off creative talent and carries the Halloween spirit around campus. Anyone who does not celebrate can still feel free to participate, whether their costume is chucky or simply a student of the arts.

Students must pay $3 to stay in costume and $2 to enter the Halloween costume contest. The rules include: no full-face masks; no weapons, fake weapons, or anything that resembles a weapon; no inappropriate or provocative costumes; no costumes that incorporate profanity or discriminatory remarks. Money collected from the Halloween Dress Down will fund the upcoming Junior and Senior Prom.

Everyone who enjoys the holiday finds it exhilarating for a multitude of reasons. “Halloween is a great way to get with family and celebrate, mostly a lot with kids and younger siblings… It’s great connecting with family,” voices Abigail Collin, eighth grade Band major. About the spooky season, she says, “it’s really fun, and you can dress up with friends, have some friend quality time, so you’re not always focused on schoolwork and other stuff like that.”

Abigail doesn’t plan on entering the costume contest as she feels not many people would recognize her costume: “One of my friends and I are planning on doing a cosplay for a movie we sometimes watch. The costume is from Phoenix Drop High; I’m being Blaze.”

With the reputation of OCSA’s students to be inventive, their Halloween costumes are sure to be astounding and startling, especially those in the costume contest. Any that stand out may be featured on OCSA’s social media.