In junior Shawn Killian’s family, Halloween is serious, spooky business. Due to the fact that Halloween is his mother’s favorite holiday, Killian has spent the majority of his Halloweens  dressing up in fun, creative and sometimes scary costumes.

This year on Halloween, Killian has decided to dress up as a zombie.

“I’m going to have colored contacts,” said Killian. “Either blind ones or black with white pupils. I’m going to spray my hair white or, like, gray. And I’m going to be wearing a dark hoodie or a suit . . .I just want black and white contrast.”

The only part of Killian’s costume that he expects to be a little costly is the colored contacts. However, the rest of the materials he needs will cost no more than “five or so dollars.”

Killian said that last year he did not dress up for the holiday because he was self-conscious about wearing his costume to school and being seen by juniors and seniors. This year, however, he wants to make up for lost time and is prepared to go all out in celebration.

As advice to the students who need a creative boost in deciding on their costume, Killian offers up his own history of Halloween costumes.

“One year I was a giant praying mantis,” Killian said. “I also was an ape one year. I was all three men in the blue man group… Just have fun with it.”

Halloween is a real treat for junior Maya Simkin, too. This year, Simkin plans on dressing up as a man-eating shark. Intent on prowling the hallways of GBN, Simkin says she will be on the lookout for students she can chase around and “try to bite.”

From a website, Simkin found a man-eating shark costume that was for sale. Instead of buying it, she decided she would replicate it with large, flexible pieces of gray foam.

“I’m building [the costume] out of foam and such,” said Simkin. “It will probably cost, like, 20 bucks. I’m buying the materials from Michaels Art Store.”

According to Simkin, it is easy to find directions on how to make a man-eating shark costume.  All it takes is a quick Google search. Simkin searched “how to make shark costume” on Google and was directed to video tutorials which gave her step-by-step directions on how to make her costume.

Even though she is 16 years old, Simkin still plans to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.         “Trick-or-treating is fun,” said Simkin. “I mean, I guess there’s a point where one is just too old to walk around and collect candy, but I’m procrastinating giving it up.”