When people think of Halloween, they think of spooky ghost stories, trick-or-treating, and dressing up. However, JC students can think of one more item to add to the list: the Halloween dance. Yes, that is the dance that only sixty people show up to and at least half of whom leave early.

This year was no exception. Walking into the dance revealed a less than half-filled cafeteria and a malfunctioning fog machine. Everyone seemed content with milling around and doing everything they could to avoid dancing. This attitude was not surprising when each group of students had a four foot gap between them.

I was sure that the awkwardness of the situation would last the entire night.

However, I was mistaken. As the night went on, people started to clump together in the middle of the dance floor and bust out their best moves. Not all of the remixes played were familiar, but students still moved to the beat.

Wearing a costume and seeing everyone else’s made the dance fun. People went all-out. On one end of the cafeteria a student wore a penguin suit, and on the other end a group of senior boys wore purple tights as part of their 80’s workout costumes.

Awards were given out for the scariest costume, the most original costume, and the best group costume. The scariest costume went to senior Conor DeVoe who was a murdered nerd, the most original costume went to senior Ryan Selvy who dressed as a Chick-fil-A cow, and the best group costume went to seniors, Ashley Markley and her friend Christina Hawkins from Havre de Grace Senior High who dressed as “gold diggers.” All of the winners had awesome costumes and totally deserved to win.

It was not the best dance of the year, but it could have been. The music was good overall and the people who went had a fun time. The only downside was the number of people in attendance. If more people had come, the dance would have been less awkward.

When it comes down to it, the Halloween dance is just like any other JC dance: it stinks if you go by yourself with a bad attitude, but it’s a blast if you go with a group of friends who want to have a good time.

Meg Kirchner can be reached for comment at [email protected]