Costumes have been an activity associated with kids and Halloween for years, so why should students be judged when they choose to dress up during school? I have dressed up for two years straight and plan on dressing up this year as well. It is a way for students to represent what they enjoy and make memories with friends, so why should they stop?
There has been this bad stereotype of dressing up at school with students saying that if you dress up at school you are “weird,” but it’s an activity people do with loved ones. There is also this saying that if you dress up, staff will yell at you, leading to students to be too scared to dress up. The two years I have done it, no staff have mentioned anything negative to me, with most complimenting my costumes.
Dressing up shows the school spirit as well. Students dressing up prove to other students that Central is a fun school and that you are free to express yourself and do things that one might not be able to do in a different school. Students would be more encouraged to talk to each other and make friends. If you see someone dressed up as Mario, you will want to ask where their Luigi is, and a new friendship could be made.
Costumes are an easy conversation starter, and for the people that dress up they will be seen as confident and brave for not worrying about other people’s perspectives on them.
This amazing community of people who dress up complement each other when they see them in the halls because they know the stares they might get, so they are supporting each other. Being there for one another is something that is amazing in communities and dressing up at school promotes that.
My sophomore year I was Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes with five of my friends. We didn’t go all out with our costumes; given the rumors we heard from other students we were scared. So, we just wore the representing colors with black makeup on our noses and clothes coordinating with the character we got. But I handmade ears for the group and it was so fun seeing us around the school.
Even something as simple as these costumes, where they started conversations with students that I have never talked to before, was truly an amazing memory I had with those people, and I will never regret it.
The people who do judge the people for dressing are more worried about harmless fun than bigger problems. There are many different things that should be said in this world, but if they are more focused on judging the people who are enjoying their lifestyle as teens then they are not very focused on mature problems.
There shouldn’t be a bad stereotype of dressing up at school when it is just friends wanting to make memories. The two years I enjoyed dressing up and never felt embraced and loved seeing all the other costumes that truly went all out for the special day. Have fun and enjoy high school as it doesn’t last forever.
