Chi Nguyen, Asst. Social Media Editor–
Pumpkins with mischievous grins, the thrill of late-night stories lingering in the air, spider webs draped across the hallway, all of these signal the arrival of a spooky season, Halloween.
On Oct. 25, students gathered in Slayter for the annual Halloween costume contest, transforming the campus into an eerie festival of creativity and community. The event is the collaborative effort between Denison Asian Student Union (DASU), ACSA (African and Caribbean Student Association), La Fuerza Latina and BLASS (Black, LatinX, Asian, Science Society). It is a part of DASU Reclaiming Culture Week, which began with the costume contest and ends with a movie night scheduled for Oct. 30.
The event kicked off as contestants made their way down a runway to present their costumes. The second part of the contest entailed the Q&A session where students answered questions from the judges and audience about the meaning of their costumes and how they had prepared for it. A panel of judges evaluated the costumes based on the effort to go beyond originality, attention to detail, and how much they embodied the character.
Biology professor Lina Yoo, who is also DASU’s faculty advisor, showed up in her Harry Potter costume as one of the judges.
“This is my fourth year judging the costume competition,” said Yoo. “I think people looked great. It was really fun and I got to see not only the costumes but also the sassiest attitude that people had to determine who was gonna win.”
The Halloween costume contest took place around the time of mid-term season when students might need time to unwind and stay connected in the midst of a busy semester.
Students Sara Riley Benedict ‘26, Amiya J Law ‘27, Lila Sauer ‘27, Juliette Pham ‘28, and Jaylam Thach ‘28 dressed as characters from the Disney movie “Monsters, Inc.” Their coordinated costumes received enthusiastic applause from the audiences, and eventually earned them the first prize in the competition.
The contest is an opportunity for students to not only transform into their favorite characters, but also to be creative in the costume-making process. Students, through their costumes, embraced everything from horror icons, TV show and movie characters, filling the space with a mix of monsters, celebrities and inventive DIY characters.
Amiya J Law ‘27 created her head piece in the shape of antlers, wrapped around by a piece of cloth, with some tree leaves added on top as decorations. Her costume was inspired by Lottie Matthews, a character on the Showtime original series “Yellowjackets.”
“It took about three hours [to make the costume]. I thrifted the dress but the head piece, I had to get antlers, some leaves and stuff from the Dollar Store,” said Law.
As the evening wrapped up, medals were awarded to the winners, but the real reward, students would agree, was the spirit of camaraderie and fun.
