The colorful leaves are still falling, but fall sports and activities are just coming to a close. The end of October often comes with a bit of silence in the high school; sports such as soccer, volleyball, tennis, field hockey, golf, cheerleading and football have already concluded or are quickly wrapping up. Homecoming and the annual bonfire have already passed, and there are no more home football games to cheer on our Panthers and enjoy the blaring tunes coming from our hardworking marching band. What are the students to be excited and chattering about now?

Halloween, of course! The teachers and staff work especially hard to make this holiday a thrilling time for students in the high school. This Halloween, our SVHS mini-THON committee decided to do something special. The mini-THON committee raises money by hosting numerous fundraisers throughout the year, all leading up to the actual mini-THON event in the spring, when participants dance and stay on their feet for 12 hours, raising a large amount of money for pediatric cancer. On this particular day, Oct. 31, mini-THON club members decided to sell FTK (For The Kids) drawstring bags for students to purchase for $3 each to use to Trick or Treat to teachers handing out candy around the school.

“We’re always looking for different ways to raise money for pediatric cancer,” said Camryn Zavacky, a senior at SVHS and president of the mini-THON club. “This idea was different than our normal dine and donate fundraisers. It was our first year doing it and it was definitely very effective. Trick-or-Treating with our FTK bags was a good way to involve all the students in the high school!”

As far as the Trick or Treating goes, both the students and faculty were supposed to dress in costume for the activity to be the best that it could be. Uniquely, each separate teaching department dressed up in coordination, with a particular theme of costumes, where the students then voted on which department had the best costume idea and execution: the English department, dressed as Snapchat filters, the math department as Crayola crayons, the special education department as The Addams Family, the history department as The Anti-Social Social Studies, and the science department as The Farmers.

Our mini-THON club at SVHS works extremely hard to raise as much money as possible for pediatric cancer. They try their best to come up with fun ways to do so, such as the many dine and donates they have hosted in the past. For example, there have been fundraisers at Braveheart Highland Pub, Waffle House, and a number of other eateries that are popular within our community.

This is all in preparation for our annual mini-THON event that takes place at Saucon Valley HS in the spring, going from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Included in those 12 hours is one hour set aside as “community hour,” where parents, family and friends are welcome to join us and experience all that we do to raise money for such a meaningful cause. An exact date for the event will be decided and communicated to the public at a later time.

This year’s Halloween was definitely made special for the students and faculty of SVHS, as well as all of the children suffering from pediatric cancer who we are striving to help.