STUCO will host their second annual Trunk or Treat in the WA senior parking lot on Friday, Oct. 27 from 5:00-7:00 pm, an event that will bring together clubs, student organizations, friend groups, and sports teams to celebrate Halloween and connect with the community. Elementary school students can dress in costumes and go from car to car to “trick or treat.”
During Trunk or Treat, participants will park in the senior parking lot and decorate their car trunks with a Halloween theme. The student organizations hand out candy and other assorted goodies.
While the event was already quite popular last year, the first year of Trunk or Treat, it is expected to have a larger turnout because more cars have signed up this year. STUCO is also expecting more elementary students than the prior year, due to the amount of advertising and promotion they have done this year for both student groups and elementary school students.
According to head of the Trunk or Treat committee Daniel Wang, the committee emailed the principals of elementary schools weeks ago and asked them to post flyers around the school and include the event in their Friday newsletters. For WA student organizations, the committee has advertised through the morning announcements, social media, and emails to club leaders, sports coaches, and club advisors.
“We did more advertising than last year, so I think there will definitely be more kids [this year] than last year,” Wang said. “We also have more [trunks] than last year.”
The Trunk or Treat Planning Committee, which consists of Wang and nine other committee chairs, has been planning the event for the past month. The committee has worked with the Community Service Committee, Dean Betsy Murphy, STUCO advisors Maggie Sulka and Loren Doucette, and the rest of STUCO. They have collaborated to make the video on the morning announcements and discuss a lot of details of the events amongst themselves.
“Everyone helps out, everyone pitches in to help me set up things and get the logistics correct,” Wang said.
Many student organizations are excited to take part in Trunk or Treat and have begun planning how they will decorate their trunks. They are eager to promote their organizations and connect with the community. Some of these organizations include Class of 2024, Class of 2025, Class of 2026, Westford Academy Theater Arts (WATA), French Club, and Brighter Place. WATA board member Ruby Davis is particularly excited to connect their trunk to this year’s musical.
“As a collective group, our board members have decided to participate in Trunk or Treat mainly because it’s a really fun and simple event and for our show, Little Shop of Horrors,” Davis said. “It’s especially fitting because we can make it spooky and have a solid theme compared to a regularly decorated car.”
Some language clubs are excited to share their culture through their decorated trunks. French Club is planning to add a French-themed twist to the typical Trunk or Treat decorations. Last year, they took inspiration from the Paris catacombs. Although they are not sure of the theme for this year, they still hope to tie it back to France in some way.
“I think Trunk or Treat is such a fun idea,” Sarisha Narula, president of French Club, said. “I think it’s a great place for clubs to come together and for all the students of Westford to come and get a head start in celebrating Halloween.”
Committee member and senior Alex Popelka hopes for more community outreach and for WA students to become more engaged with Westford as a whole.
“The purpose is to bring Westford together as a community, especially with high schoolers and elementary school students,” Popelka said.
