Bates Students Find Community in Small-Scale Halloween Traditions

For students at Bates College, the holiday serves as a primary avenue for social interaction on the compact campus. Ricky Kamenetz, a 2028 graduate, noted that the small population size turns the event into a tool for building a stronger sense of community. He described the act of dressing up and observing peers in costume as a consistently exciting experience.

Salome Gvaramadze, also a 2028 graduate, viewed the holiday as a designated time for relaxation and celebration. She stated that it provides a specific reason for students to dress up, go out, and have fun with others. Gvaramadze grew up in Georgia, where she did not participate in costumes until age 16. She recalled that the general consensus in her childhood was that Halloween was either the devil’s birthday or a time to be feared.

Vathsaal Madhusudan, a 2029 graduate born in New Jersey and raised in Mumbai, expressed that he always enjoyed the holiday. This preference persisted despite his description of a lack of Halloween culture in his home city.

Kamenetz connected his current campus experiences to his own childhood memories. He recalled meeting up with friends for trick-or-treating, a practice he described as superb because it allowed him to eat all the candy he collected. These personal reflections underscore the holiday's role in maintaining social bonds among the student body.

The college community continues to observe these traditions during the autumn season. Students engage in costume parties and social gatherings that define the Halloween period at Bates. These activities remain a staple of the campus calendar for the current student population.