By James Kuhns
Staff Writer

As September turns to October, and the trees begin to shift into their fall colors, the spirit of Halloween is evident at Lake Forest Academy. Whether it’s the haunted house held on Friday the 13th or talk of a Halloween fall dance, the season of tricks and treats has students feeling spooky.
While around fifty percent of the students at LFA come from the surrounding area, a large amount of the student body lives in various countries around the world. At LFA, Halloween is seen as a fun and social event to break the stress of homework and studying, but while some get into the spirit and dress up, many students chose to stay in their dorms or at home.
“I am not really looking forward to Halloween overall, but I still like seeing others dress up and celebrate,” said Tri Vien Le, an LFA boarding junior who is from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
At home, Le never celebrated Halloween or any event like it, and upon arrival at LFA, he remembers being shocked at the spirit that students celebrate with. Although Le is an international student, he dorms with a halloween loving Chicago resident, Sebastian Delgado.
Delgado and many of LFA’s other boarding students also come from Chicago and commute home every weekend. On top of celebrating Halloween, Delgado and fellow junior Ed Nunez also celebrate Día de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead.
“Día de los Muertos lets us honor and celebrate the lives of our ancestors while hanging out with our families,” said Delgado. Despite the two holidays starting on the same day, both Delgado and Nunez will “for sure” celebrate Halloween at LFA this year.
Frank Gu, another boarding junior from China, trick-or-treated around the campus his freshman year. Since then, he has not celebrated Halloween simply due to his work load. Over the past few years, Halloween has fallen on a weekday, resulting in less of a turnout for the activities. In the next few years, Halloween will fall on a weekend night, hopefully encouraging more to participate in the celebration.
“I love how LFA includes aspects of every culture into the community,” said Gu. LFA strives to incorporate these cultural traditions to maintain the culturally diverse community enjoyed to this day. Although some students choose to sit the Halloween celebration out, the spooky season sees many boarding and day students come together to have fun and socialize despite cultural differences.