The atmosphere grew eerie as circus animals, mimes, gypsies and injured acrobats welcomed students and transformed the school into a creepy carnival on Aug. 16. Because the Class of ‘13 will graduate in a year with a number that is considered unlucky, the senior class was inspired to incorporate horror with its takeover of the school.

In order to intimidate the other classes and start off the year on a high note, incoming seniors decorate the quad according to a theme on the first day of school each year. In the past, the quad has gone through an assortment of transformations. Beginning with an Egyptian desert created by the Class of ‘10, the quad also got turned into a shipwreck by the Class of ‘11 zombie pirate apocalypse and a Mayan civilization by the Class of ‘12. This year, the seniors lead the outbreak of spooky carnival characters, decorating the quad with a circus tent and animal cage.

In May, the senior class got together and came up with many different themes. In the end, the majority of students chose to bring a creepy circus to life. With $400 taken from their class fund, the seniors were able to purchase building materials and supplies for the tent, cage and banner. According to Senior Class Vice President Sarah Klem, Student Body President Harrison Waschura played a major role in the construction of the life-size decor. “We are really grateful for his expertise with carpentry and just overall being awesome,” she said.

Preparations were not always a piece of cake though. With only $400, the class had to make careful decisions in order to stay under the budget. “A main way we accomplished this was reaching out to our class and elsewhere for donated materials,” Klem said. In addition, the class ran into a few problems finding decoration space on the quad as well as agreeing on building designs. “We overcame these [issues] by carefully going over what we imagined every aspect of [the quad] to be like and what we needed to make it happen,” Senior Class President Nitika Johri said.

Before these ideas could be finalized, they had to be approved by Student Activities Director Lisa Hall, who first made sure that the senior class officers pass on the event rules to the rest of the seniors. With the recent Aurora “Dark Knight Rises” shooting incident, students had to be even more cautious when designing their costumes. “[Principal Katya] Villalobos stated that she did not want students dressing up in a way that is connected to the Batman movie,” Hall said.

According to senior William Yu, the additional restrictions made it challenging to find costume ideas that fit the theme, but he still looked forward to participating in the first-day tradition. “The scary carnival theme is hilarious for the seniors, but spooky for everyone else,” he said. “Everyone better watch out because the Class of ‘13 is back!”