By Sanggeeta Kumar and Jacqueline Wee
Vampires, Jack O’ lanterns, ravens and gargoyles all ring with the annual and ceremonial commemoration of Halloween that was held in Taylor’s University. The spooky celebration unfolded by sending chills down spines as the dinner commenced. Students sat in tables in front of the Student Life Centre and enjoyed their candlelit dinner accompanied by funky music. The cupcakes served seemed to be a hit among the crowd.
The celebration later shifted to the ice breakers which encompassed a game involving one’s shoe size. The students had to rearrange themselves according to the size of their shoe which was entertaining as this activity filled the air with the students’ excitement in trying to rearrange themselves in the correct order. Creativity lit up the atmosphere through carved watermelons into Jack O’ Lanterns. The students were given knives to carve the watermelons in any way they liked and the end results impressed everyone, proving that law students can be artistic too.
More activities ensued, involving the celebration of the night’s festivities with a ‘best-dressed catwalk’. The crowd nominated whoever they felt deserved the crown and each nominee had to show off their costumes to the crowd during the catwalk. All the hard work and effort in spending hours on dressing to kill had not gone to waste as there was a reward for the best costume of the night which was won by none other than Yap Zi Ying, who stunned the crowd with her top-notch makeup which was scary, even to the common man. There was even a pinata where the students, blindfolded, took turns to hit the pinata with all their might. The night’s festivities came to a close after the ‘hit the pinata’ game ended.
The aim of the event was to provide a chance for students to socialise with students from other semesters in Taylor’s Law School, building a bridge between students from all semesters. Due to the massive amount of assignments, the party also served as a way for students to relax in conjunction with inculcating this Western culture in a fun manner. This may be said to be a very special experience by law students as it is a known fact that Halloween is mostly celebrated in countries ranging from the United Kingdom to countries situated by the European waters.
One of the students applauded the organizer's effort in organising this event as it gave her a chance to attend her first-ever Halloween party and to come in a costume. Another student expressed how they loved the idea of having a casual meet up with the other semesters rather than in a formal setting where it is more rigid and bound to have awkward moments.
The whole committee was very thrilled to carry out the activity. Although the Halloween party lasted for merely a few hours, it took the whole committee almost an entire week to organise and execute the plan. The essence of the event can be seen patently through the multiple photos taken and shared by students on social media. Even by looking at those photos, it may just be enough to reinstate the scary but blissful moments shared amongst students that spooky night. An undercurrent of mystery and the sullen tone of the Phantom of the Opera’s music may recur in student’s memories just by scrolling through such gruesome and grim photos.
Given the time constraints and having to juggle the heavy university workload, the committee still managed to carry out their plans with great success even though it was the Law Society’s first official event run by the newly-elected committee.
The highlight of the night was undeniably the watermelon carving game and socialising with other law students from various semesters. However, there are always two sides to the coin. A problem faced by the new committee was that despite their efforts to make the party a success, only a handful of students managed to attend. This is most likely due to the fact that the assignment deadlines were just around the corner. Nevertheless it was a great event and hopefully this would not be the last Halloween party the Law Society would ever organise.
