After 23 years Presque Isle High school allowed  students to wear Halloween costumes to school, due to the efforts of the Student Council.

In 1994 on the annual Halloween dress-up day, a student dressed up as a member of the KKK. The student then taunted an African American student. “Knowing him personally, I don’t think he knowingly did that with evil or harmful intentions, but his actions and costume were incredibly thoughtless,” said English teacher and class of ‘95 alumna Marcie Young.

“The WAGM news crew showed up to report it,” Young said. “I was a senior when it happened, and my understanding is that students haven’t been able to or encouraged to dress up for Halloween since.”

This year, the Student Council is doing dress-up days where students can dress up according to a theme and classes can earn Winter Carnival points. In addition to the Halloween dress-up day, the Council is also planning different dress-up days for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day. For the most recent dress-up day, students could also wear black, purple or orange for Halloween colors.

The Anchor did a poll on Instagram to see what people thought about dressing up at school for Halloween and people were excited.

Winter Carnival is held from March 27-29. It’s a series of events that consists of multiple days and various competitions. “It’s pretty insane and fun,” said Gavin Akeley ‘20.

For the freshman, this year will be their first Carnival at PIHS. “I’m excited because I’ve never done it before, and it will be something new to do, I might do some activities if I like them. I would like to do dodgeball,” said Devin Osse ‘22.

Kids don’t normally like to get out of the comfort zone at school and dress up or try new styles but the Halloween Day let people try new things. “I liked it because it was the first year we were encouraged to dress up,” said Aaleyiah Poisson ‘20.