PV High Halloween Horror: Seniors reflect on how their first PVHS Halloween led to changes
Shocking. Horrible. Traumatic. Consequential. All of these words can be used to describe October 31, 2016, one of the darkest and most terrifying days in Palos Verdes High School’s history. At least, for freshmen it was.
“I remember going to my fourth period and seeing people running down those huge stairs, throwing baby powder everywhere,” senior Carter Harrigian said.
A freshman at the time, he can still remember that day vividly. Seniors in penguin costumes terrorized the student body with cans of silly spray, sardines, and baby powder.
Chaos ensued in a way that had never been seen before on school campus.
“I remember going into my Geometry class and it smelling like raw fish,” senior Dylan Cosgrove said.
One of the most memorable and long-lasting effects of the day was, in fact, the stench of canned sardines that filled the classrooms of PVHS.
As the day went on, however, Cosgrove recalls the point where the day turned from a school-wide prank to a dangerous incident.
“Our classroom had an open can of sardines thrown into it, and the person next to me actually got hit in the head with the can,” he said.
Jama Maxfield, ASB Director, remembers the Halloween of 2016 like it was yesterday and still thinks about what the Class of 2017 could have been.
“It had been such a good class, they were good kids, and the year had started out so well. However, after Halloween, it just tanked immediately.”
The disappointment from the reality of the class’s actions is evident on Maxfield’s face when bringing it up.
“It took a long time to regain trust and camaraderie with this class, I was so devastated,” she said.
The effects of the Halloween in 2016 are seen today in many different ways.
One of these was increased regulations by school administration on the types of costumes and accessories that can be brought on Halloween, which have been increasingly unpopular with each incoming senior class.
“Administration didn’t have a choice but to clamp down on Halloween. Unfortunately, 2016 kind of killed Halloween,” said Maxfield.
Fin Kehrli is as first-year member of The Point staff. You can find him keeping busy on campus: reporting for the newspaper, running for XC/track, taking...
