With the end of 2021 and the start of the third year in a pandemic, many have been put through emotional turmoil. Now, the CDC recommends participating in the most famous Halloween activity: trick-or-treating. The CDC’s director Rochelle Walensky “encourages Americans to get outside and relish the holiday.” Additionally, Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, supports this claim as well. So, with the facts and activities that have been approved, Halloween can be celebrated by all, safely.
Images provided by Marina Casorla.
Marina Casorla is currently finishing up her last year at WHS and is ecstatic for the fall season. She loves the month of October, specifically, because of “the spooky, scary atmosphere as well as the weather.” This year, Casorla wants to have a little fun with her costume and do a D.I.Y of the metal rock musician Joey Jordison. She has always looked up to him because “he never fit the stereotypes that society made, and stood out in his own confidence.” Growing up, Casorla and her family participated in any and all Halloween activities. Their motto for this time of year is “go big or go home.”
When COVID hit, Casorla and her family still found a way to safely celebrate their favorite holiday by decorating their home inside and out. Casorla shared that this year will give many people an opportunity to finally celebrate Halloween more openly than last year. However, safety should still come first. Casorla says that “masks should still be mandatory because it involves going to someone’s house and there is too much contact to the giver of candy and the trick or treaters, plus it’s a good habit to have.”
Images provided by Kaylee Williams
Kaylee Willams is a senior at WHS and has been playing on the Varsity Girls’ Golf team since her freshman year of high school. Williams loves being part of her team and is constantly learning to branch out and discover more things to love to fill her life. With the “spooky season” already here, Williams is gearing up for Halloween. Her favorite part of it is “dressing up and spending the night and staying up late with friends.” Williams expresses that this holiday is “an important part of her life because it’s a key part of her childhood and This year she has decided to spend time with her family and those she has grown to be comfortable around during the pandemic. Though Williams loves to celebrate Halloween she still strongly believes “masks should be mandatory while trick or treating unless a mask is part of the costume because it’s the same as being in any public setting. It’s probably more important only because so many people go trick or treating.”
Williams, this year is in the ROP program as a nursing assistant. Helping people has been part of Williams’ life, whether it be helping her teammates in golf or helping her peers at school. Though she just started with ROP she has learned the importance of vaccines. Williams feels that even though people feel the restrictions have been slowly lifted, vaccines and masks should still be part of the steps towards the end of the pandemic. She provided some insight on what the vaccine actually does: “the vaccine is just so that if you do get COVID, you are less likely to be as sick and die. So, everyone should still wear a mask and be cautious of COVID.”
Mayah Biswas was born on September 8th 2004 in Fremont, California. She has not left Fremont since and is enamored by writing and literature. This is her first year at the paper, but she has worked with Ms. Campisano in her yearbook class. Some of her journalistic interests are covering the latest medical news, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and also covering the news of what’s trending at Washington High School. As a child, Mayah used writing as her emotional outlet; she would keep many journals that contained her darkest secrets or sometimes her daily schedules. Some extracurricular activities she had during her first two years at WHS were playing basketball and cross country with Coach Vose. Additionally, she devoted time to tutor her younger peers during online school on different topics such as: Biology, Geometry, Algebra 1 and World History. Mayah has always struggled with forming her own plans for the future. She is more than capable of planning out her present day plans and taking charge, but when she’s asked the question: “what do you want to do?” she’s stumped. This is why she is taking journalism: she wants to explore more ground to see what makes her heart sing and live for.