On Oct. 27, the Student Government Association (SGA) held its annual Teach-or-Treat event in which students could venture to participating teachers’ rooms and collect Halloween candy. This year, 44 teachers and administrators spanning all of the different departments and facilities participated in this celebration. This is their second year running this event, and they have plans to continue expanding this event.
Because Halloween is during the school week this year, many students cannot afford to go celebrate. Some students have to forgo their Halloween plans for homework and studying instead.
“I don’t really have any plans for Halloween besides studying for calc. Teach-or-Treat is a pretty good compromise because it allows me to go around with my friends to get some candy even if I don’t go trick-or-treating,” sophomore Aneeshwar Peri said.
Not only does the event give students the chance to grab their seasonal allotment of sweets, but it also serves as a much-needed break from the school day for students and staff alike.
“Teach-or-Treat was really fun with all my friends and it was a welcome pause to the school day,” sophomore Smaran Kudapa said. “The problem I had was that I heard about this way too late so all the teachers already ran out of candy. Next year I hope that there will be more candy available.”
Students are not the only ones benefiting from Teach-or-Treat. Both teachers and administrators are also enjoying the social aspect of handing out the candy.
“I think my favorite part of Teach-or-Treat is meeting new students,” physics teacher Margarita Kelly said. “I’ve seen so many new faces in my classroom because of this.”
Some adults are also putting their own unique spin on the celebration. Denise Margraf, one of the administrators in the finance office, tries to make students laugh at her antics.
“The students [could] choose to either hear a Halloween-themed joke or try to say a Halloween tongue twister,” Margraf said. “[It seemed] like everyone [was] having fun earning the candy. [It was] a great way to interact with students during the day and put some smiles on their faces.”
Beyond the basic trick, teachers are drafting up ways to add an interactive element to next year’s Teach-or-Treat. In true Jefferson fashion, one such method involves projectile motion.
“This year I just had the candy bowl out but next year I was thinking about building a catapult to launch the candy out,” Kelly said. “The students would have to try and catch it and I think it could be a lot of fun.”
Even after the success of this year, the SGA is busy drafting possible improvements for next year to make it more fun and engaging for the students.
“[One thing] we could try to add [is] a scavenger hunt element. SGA will see if [that] is feasible next year,” senior Activities Director Demi Tudorache said.
![Blocking your way into the Hopper Commons is this sign that discourages other students from eating lunch here. Every Thursday, this sign makes sure that AP physics students have the ideal environment to focus on the SLOB. “[Last week’s] SLOB had a very high success rate, much higher than I actually thought,” Mark Hannum, the Optics Lab Director, said.](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pasted-image-0-21-600x450.png)
![Taking over the blaring crowd with their sound, the trombones add a commanding presence to the marching band’s musical ensemble during the Back to School Bash. “You get a lot of adrenaline when you’re playing,” junior John Yao. “You just finish a really hard piece and the crowd goes, yeah, [TJMC] is so cool. You have three or four moments during your show so it’s pretty cool.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/tjmcp1-600x479.png)
