During the Halloween season, WJ’s annual Bad Day to be a Pumpkin takes place at the football stadium and is known as a festive event. The Tech-Ed department demonstrates their well-thought-out pumpkin catapults that can shoot pumpkins all the way down the football field, ceramic students display their creatively carved out pumpkins, the SGA holds a pie eating contest that never fails to get a laugh, dance students perform a flash mob to the famous Michael Jackson song “Thriller,” a costume contest where students compete to have the coolest or most creative costume is held and the ever so cute kids from the Child Development class parade around in their adorable costumes. However, the question is: where did our well-beloved event go?

This year, the SGA decided not to host the annual event that art department resource teacher Stephanie Ellis came up with years ago. What could possibly be so important as to end that 14 year streak?

This year, the Tech-Ed department changed their curriculum and constructing and making catapults didn’t go with the new units. Instead, WJ reinstated the Food Art Contest/Canned Food Drive coming later this year. The Art Department plans to challenge all the other departments in the school to see who can make the best food art and collect the most canned foods. It’s no Bad Day to be a Pumpkin, but it’s nice to see WJ bringing back old events our school used to do and for now it’ll do. It doesn’t give an hour long lunch period but WJ plans to alternate between the two events every other year.

Even if you don’t like Bad Day to be a Pumpkin and never really attend, most students love the event because students are given an hour long lunch period and how often does that actually happen? Students who wouldn’t go to Bad Day to be a Pumpkin would spend their hour long period going to the mall, Silver Diner and many other restaurants. Even if you didn’t go off-campus, it was still an an hour long free lunch period to do whatever you wanted. Which, for today’s students, is music to their ears.

Some traditions may come and go and some traditions die, but WJ isn’t ready to let go of Bad Day to be a Pumpkin just yet.