Middle and Upper School Drama Teacher Ms. Lexie Frare (LF)

Riverdale Review (RR): “Did you have a favorite costume as a kid?”

LF: “When I was little, my mother made all my costumes. I wanted to be, you know, a princess… being a medieval princess was a big thing in Middle School. And my Mom was like ‘No, you have to be something more clever than that.’ She was very crafty, so she made me a jack-in-the-box…I pretty much dressed up like a clown but then she made a big box…She reinforced it. I wore suspenders that held it up. On the front of the box she wrote ‘Lex-In-A-Box’, because my first name is Lexie, and then on the inside she made little pockets for all my candy. But then I couldn’t get up the stairs at people’s houses sometimes because I was too wide. It was very wide… but it was fun.”

Assistant Head of School Mr. Milton Sipp (MS)

RR: “What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions?”

MS: “Definitely trick-or-treating. To me, that is something that even as an adult has not gotten old. I’m lamenting the fact that my kids are older now…now they’re all in college and out of college. But I still have that sense… for me the trick-or-treating and going around to the houses and getting that big bag of deliciousness…”

RR: “What is your favorite costume that you’ve ever worn?

MS: “I would say my favorite is one I used to wear around here a lot. It’s Eeyore… I had this big Eeyore costume that looks like a big onesie pajama with a tail and Eeyore talks when you press a button. So, Eeyore for me is still my favorite.”

Upper School English Teacher Dr. Jeffrey Edwards (JE)

RR: “Do you have any Halloween traditions?”

JE: “The first thing I do is I set up a building pageant for the little kids in my building; they wear their costumes and parade around the lobby. Then I call a friend of mine - we’ve been friends for 44 years - and we watch Rosemary’s Baby and talk; it’s such a good movie. We’ve been watching that movie on Halloween for 13 years now, but I’ve definitely seen it more times than that. Most of the time we don’t really watch the movie!”

RR: “Do you have any funny Halloween stories?”

JE: “I don’t really do anything that fun. I don’t dress up, I don't really give out candy. I sit in the apartment trying to keep the dogs quiet when the kids come and knock.”

Middle and Upper School English Teacher Mx. Julia Rohde (JR)

RR: “What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions when you were younger?”

JR: “As I kid I really liked going to the haunted corn maze. It might have been more of a midwest thing. Have you ever done a corn maze?”

RR: “Yes, I’ve gotten lost in a lot of them.”

JR: “Well, around Halloween time, they would make haunted ones. I remember I would go with my cousins and it was nighttime and corn mazes were already freaky. So imagine it’s dark and there are people chasing you with chainsaws. That was really fun.”

Middle and Upper School Art Department Chair Mr. Jason Ruff (JR)

RR: “What are your favorite things to do for Halloween?”

JR: “Making my own costume is one of my favorite things to do on Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday. It’s a holiday where you can create something and then you get to wear it and show it off to people. 

RR: “Do you have any Halloween traditions?”

JR: “When I was younger, of course, we would go trick-or-treating around different neighborhoods. The best neighborhoods with the best candy were always a big deal.”