The Staples cafeteria host their annual Pumpkin Contest.Danisha Nasution '25, Staff Writer
This year, the Pumpkin Contest was hosted by two lunch ladies, Amy Eldredge and Jill Graziani. “Our previous boss, Deb, started [this tradition] eight years ago. She was very into Halloween. I picked up on it and was like, ‘let’s do it again,’ and we all just got super competitive over the years,” Eldredge said. Their love for this holiday keeps the tradition alive and the students amused. The cafeteria servers who are willing to paint enter their pumpkins and the students are invited to blindly vote for their favorite pumpkin by writing down the number of the labeled pumpkin on a slip of paper and placing it in the halloween decorated box on the front table in the cafeteria. The winner was revealed the day after Halloween.
Pumpkin #1: This pumpkin was made by one of the hosts of the contest, Jill Graziani. The pumpkin demonstrates the mountain of 'Te Fiti' from Disney's film Moana. Many creative details to this pumpkin include its artificial vine and flower garnish, the Moana toy accessories and bright green colored all throughout the pumpkin. This pumpkin won many students' hearts and won the overall contest.
Pumpkin #2: The barbie trailer pumpkin was created by host, Amy Eldredge, and was made with a self- painted surface and pumpkin with many accessories such as the Chelsea Barbie sitting near the fire, as well as the miniature dog, bouquets of flowers, tent, sleeping bag, stairs leading up to the pumping and the wheels to create a trailer pumpkin.
Pumpkin #3: This third pumpkin was decorated by cafeteria server, Anna. The pumpkin was embellished with Gel clings that compliment the holiday spirit, letters that spell out "Happy Halloween," and an interactive witch that cackles when the red dot appears.
Pumpkin: #4: The infamous Mickey Mouse painted pumpkin was created by cafeteria server, Jackie. This pumpkin was handcrafted by paint and a sharpie and was accessorized with ears made out of cloth. This pumpkin won third place in the contest.
Pumpkin #5: The witch house pumpkin surrounded by bats, clouds, trees and a full moon was painted by cafeteria server, Wanda, as the name tag above says. The decorated pumpkin consists of a solid blue background, and unlike the other pumpkins entered it was entirely self made. This pumpkin won second place.
Pumpkin #6: The final pumpkin was designed by cafeteria sandwich maker, Colleen. She made the pumpkin of Poppy the Troll in the DreamWorks movie Trolls. The accessories include a cut out felt nose, glitter paper eyebrows and mouth.