Leaves are turning orange, a breeze is blowing, and the smells of Fall is coming to play! With the season turning, there are different festivals hosted all around Cedar Park, but also here at Vista Ridge. One of the big events that Rangers are looking forward to is Trunk or Treat, an event hosted by Student Council to spread the joy of Fall to everyone within our community.
Trunk or Treat is a well-known event on our campus, we associate it with different clubs and organizations, having trunks decorated while handing out candy to kids and students. The student council hosts, but what most people don’t know is that its main purpose is a canned food drive, which helps our community.
“We started the canned food drive a couple years ago and we do it because Thanksgiving is around the corner after Trunk or Treat, so people who are as lucky as others to have the opportunity to have enough food, we just do it in the spirit of Thanksgiving and we ask people to give canned donations to us,” senior Seoyoung Lee said. “We do this in collaboration with HCCM, which they give us the barrels and we give the canned foods so they can distribute it to people in need.”
The food drive this year is helping out the Hill Country Community Ministries. You can find areas around our school to drop off any kind of non-perishable food items to help our community out. You can donate any canned goods such as tuna, soups, tomato sauce, and much more. With the help of the student body, we can make a mark for the people in our city that we call Cedar Park.
“Trunk or Treat is an annual event that we do every year and I think this year is our 17th or 18th time, we do it for the community so there’s a lot of young kids that come and it’s always fun seeing the older kids having fun with the younger kids by passing out candy or participating in there different events,” Lee said. “It’s fun having different clubs and athletics participating, like I know Swim gets dunked in cold water and soccer has a goal post or something like that for little kids to participate in.”
This year our Trunk or Treat event w
ill be hosted on October 30th from 5:30-7:30 with many different clubs and organizations excited to dress up for this special event. Behind the scenes, there are many preparations and themes that every team figures out days or weeks leading up to it. The students at Vista dress up in their own way and decorate trunks that make it more fun and joyful. With a costume on and a bag of candy, they are prepared to share a sweet treat with everyone.
“We haven’t decided on a theme yet, but I would love to do an Avatar Last Air Bender themed trunk because it would be really cute, but we’re super excited for Trunk or Treat, and it’s one of my most favorites because of the little kids and being able to give them candy,” senior Eleanor Ronan said. “My favorite memory was last year because we made some corn hole boards for the little kids to play with which was Star Wars themed, it was fun seeing the little kids play and throw these bags because they were not very good and it wasn’t regulation corn hole but it was still super fun to see it.”
With the different organizations ready to celebrate, basketball is already brewing their ideas. From past years, there have been memorable moments that they are hoping to renew.
“For Basketball, we plan on being superheroes like Batman and Superman,” junior Caden Sneed said. “My favorite memory from Trunk or Treat was last year, it was letting the kids shoot the free throws and being able to have a lot of candy.”
Another sport that is amped up for Trunk or Treat is girls soccer because they love to dress up. With a theme, everyone on the team is ready to go big or go home. The soccer program is especially excited because girls and boys soccer teams have joint trunks.
“For our theme, soccer has thought of a couple things and we’ve mainly wanted to do like soccer moms and barbecue dads which we thought would be funny but you know nothing is set in stone,” senior Alexis Morrison said. “My favorite memory was last year because that’s where I met my boyfriend and I also enjoyed my freshman year because we did minions where there was a huge blow-up and a goal post that people could kick balls onto.”
Mark your calendars to catch this exciting event in our A lot from 5:30-7:30 on October 30th. If you see any places around our school to donate canned goods, feel free to drop cans off anytime, the deadline is also October 30th! With the help of YOU and others, we can make an impact while having fun, so be sure to spread the word of not just Trunk or Treat but the Canned Good Drive.
