This past Friday, Bethpage High School held its annual “Safe Halloween” event, and it once again was a great success! Safe Halloween is a Bethpage tradition in which the high school fosters a safe environment where young children can go room-to-room “trick or treating” between classrooms. Halloween is a controversial holiday plagued with illicit activities; the oft-heard argument of “razor blades in candy,” “underage drinking,” or even child predators has led to the school’s efforts each year in having a safe environment where children may frolic with the fervency of a sugar-addled youths.

As you enter a school flecked with ominous decorations, you are assailed with various aromas and a drab environment, oozing a malignancy that perforates the senses—yet, under it all, lays a thick veil of safety. No matter where you are in the building, you are entirely safe, as walls adorned with security cameras greet the gleeful presence of the various deities and costumed superheroes running about.

The French Club, of which both of our reporters are active members, redecorated the French room as the Parisian restaurant from Ratatouille. The event went swimmingly, with a flood of children surging through the doors, impatiently waiting to play games and grab candy. Aside from the beautiful decorations—including lifelike posters, a 3-foot-tall Eiffel Tower, and a white tablecloth dining area with a miniature light-up Eiffel Tower and flowers—children could participate in several activities to win candy. They could throw a toy rat into a cheese box. They could play a shell game for a piece of candy. They could even throw pieces of plastic food into actual pots, pans, and a cast iron griddle, to help the chefs make soups. Children eagerly awaited their turns at games, and some forgot about the candy, having too much fun playing with their favorite characters from the movie.

The best part of Safe Halloween is how the students dress up. They’re no longer high schoolers, they’re actors playing the part of their character. From Alfredo Linguini of The French Club’s Ratatouille, to the shark in the Marine Science Club’s Jaws Theme, to the Teenage Mutants Ninja Turtles of the Italian Club, the high schoolers become their characters, further enhancing the experience of the children. When the kids have fun, we have fun, because making them happy is what the event is all about.