- Student Life
It was 6:40 pm on Wednesday and the smile on Miss Tina Terry’s face as she worked the checkout line in McCallie’s Alumni Hall dining hall was bigger than usual, which is saying something.
“I made 102 candy bags and they’re all gone, every one of them,” she said. “I just love to see all these little kids in their Halloween costumes smiling and laughing. It just makes me feel good all over.”
You cannot witness the Halloween Carnival the McCallie faculty and upper school students stage each year for the little ones living on campus and not feel good all over.
It is watching Ashley Posey’s eight-year-old son Michael dressed up as an inflatable alien, his lime green, blown-up costume head the size of a Fiat, struggling to navigate the Quad while pursuing a Nerd Clusters haul. It’s also watching Eric and Lillie Wolf’s adorable 3-year-old son Rhodes stylin’ his Buzz Lightyear costume and gleefully shouting “CHOCOLATE” when asked his favorite candy.
Two nights before he was to send his 23 senior football players and managers out with a stirring pregame ceremony before the regular-season finale against Lipscomb Academy, McCallie football coach Joel Bradford wasn’t worried as much about his game plan as hanging out with his young son Deklan, who was apparently in search of a hole-in-one on the putting station as much as he was a couple of bags of Skittles candy.
“He made [his putt] on the second try,” said a smiling Bradford.
The little kids, some as young as Posey’s 20-month-old daughter Ellie Mae, are what bring out the doting big brother in all the McCallie boarders who man entertainment stations in the Quad on everything from oversized plastic bowling pins to Corn Hole to painting tiny pumpkins.
“It’s so fun to be around these kids in a safe setting,” said Sam Yeager, a freshman boarding student from Paducah, Kentucky. “This is what Halloween is all about.”
Added Evan Johnson, a senior boarder from Atlanta, “Just interacting with these kids. I had the Ring Toss station and it was a blast.”
It’s not only the kids, of course — meaning the McCallie students and the little ones. When Miss Tina was asked the best costume she’d seen all night, she broke into a wide grin and blurted out, “Patch,” referring to the director of student activities Patch Lawson ‘05. “He’s dressed up as a clown and it’s the best costume I’ve seen all night.”
Junior boarder Ocean Goracki of Gainesville, Georgia said that’s another highlight of the carnival. “You get to see teachers outside of school with their families and stuff,” he said. “You get to see another side of them.”
For the last couple of years, the 17-year-old carnival has been run by English teacher and Carnival Ring Master Stuart King. He said it was especially rewarding this year for two reasons.
“We had 40 McCallie students volunteer to help,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that’s a record and shows what good kids we have here. The other thing is this is my second Halloween with my son Conley. He had his very first sucker tonight. He thinks that’s better than Christmas. He was a pumpkin this year. He was a lion last year. There’s no going back now.”
Any time the old folks want to feel young again, going back to the Carnival for some sweet treats always does the trick.
THE END