Every October around Halloween, the seven Upper School Houses participate in the annual Pumpkin Carving Competition. With one pumpkin, some tools and paint, each house must design and create the best jack-o-lantern they can. Like the other House competitions, each house attempts to outdo each other and score the most house points.
“It is kind of like a little mini art show,” Upper School Visual Arts Chair David Love said. “It is another opportunity to get creative work out into the larger community. And for them to appreciate the abilities and skills of those people.”
This GA tradition started many years ago even before the new Upper School building was created. Mr. Love first started this tradition to give creative students a moment to shine because most of the House competitions were athletically oriented. Ever since then, House spirit has increased and the competition has been changing and getting more competitive.
“I think they do improve,” Mr. Love said. “I think there is a growth that happens each year.”
After the creations are complete, the Lower School students visit the Upper School and vote for their favorite design. The more votes each pumpkin gets, the higher it is placed in the competition. Once all the votes are totaled, the Houses ranking the highest gets the most points.
This year, there were creative and skillful designs from every house such as Alcott Day’s scary jack-o-lantern to Osbourn’s carved owl. But neither of these designs won the competition.
The House that got first place, getting the most votes from the Lower Schoolers, was Washington. Washington, like years prior, had a George Washington-themed carving designed and executed by Grace Taylor ‘24. This year, she added a Halloween twist to it, carving a skeletal version of George Washington.
“I thought we had a great design,” Washington House Head Joe Taylor said. “When I came in and saw this, I thought, wow, this is very cool. I thought it was executed flawlessly.”
In second place was Truesdell, with a carved-out wolf silhouette and some trees. In third place was Roberts’ pumpkin with a play on Ghostbusters and its theme song. In fourth was Osbourn, in fifth was Alcott Day, in sixth was Kershaw and in seventh was Galloway.
Photo courtesy of
“Some of these designs just get better and better,” Mr. Taylor said. “I do think that they get more intricate every year.”
Next year the designs will probably improve, a common pattern from the year before, especially since houses have already thought of ways to improve. Also with Washington’s artist and other senior artists graduating, most of the Houses will have to find more talent from their house to carve their way to victory.