Student Stories

booChicago

Photos by Gordon Lew, Class of 2015

Tony the Tiger mingles with Chairman Mao, while Captain Ahab scans the crowd for his white whale, and Count Olaf talks excitedly to a series of Tetris blocks. This isn’t your traditional Halloween party.

Every year, Burton-Judson Courts holds a dorm-wide Halloween party to promote interaction among its six houses. It’s also a prime opportunity for each house to show off its creative talent and competitive spirit—with just a dash of madness thrown into the mix.

As part of the event, each house participates in the Halloween Contest, which has three elements: costumes, pumpkin carving, and door decorations—all according to a theme chosen by House members. This year, the Houses’ themes were:

  • Dodd-Mead: Boxes
  • Chamberlin: Mythological Figures
  • Vincent: Grimm’s Fairy Tales
  • Coulter: Literary Villains
  • Salisbury: Historical Figures
  • Linn-Mathews: Cereals 

Salisbury and Coulter tied for first place overall. Linn-Mathews placed third, Dodd-Mead placed fourth, and Chamberlin and Vincent tied for fifth.

One change from previous years: each house asked its faculty fellow to judge, to make the contest more impartial. (Each house’s faculty fellow participates in activities with his/her house periodically during the year.) Most students thought this judging change was a good move, even if it meant trying to explain to noted Shakespeare scholar Professor David Bevington what exactly an Internet meme is. If that doesn’t sum up a UChicago Halloween, then I don’t know what does.