The leaves are falling, pumpkin patches have opened and local farms are hosting their autumn activities again. With fall finally here, students are getting into the spirit by working at local farms and volunteering at haunted houses. This year, the field hockey and soccer programs hosted their seventh annual haunted house.  

“We do the haunted house every year with girls’ soccer to raise money,” junior Mackenzie Marciello said. “It’s really fun because we all get to dress up and scare our friends.”

While volunteering at haunted houses is a fall favorite, other students have been working at local farms like Frying Pan Park and Cox Farms. Sophomore Peter Schwarz started working at Cox Farms this year.

“I work at a root beer place and I sell [food to people] and I make pretzels. It’s overall a great experience dealing with people,” Schwarz said. “It’s nice to be outside and meet a lot of new people and work with people [my] age.”

Cox Farms offers fun activities for families during the day and at night holds a “Fields of Fear” haunt.

“I was going to [be a part of the Fields of Fear], but I’m one year too young, but next year when I’m old enough, I will [participate],” Schwarz said.

Junior Olivia Madigan began working this year at another local farm, Frying Pan Park .

“I work at Frying Pan Park as farm hand. [I] feed the animals and I milk the cow,” Madigan said. “I decided to work there because I used to go there all the time when I was little, so it’s kind of a special place of mine.”

While volunteering at haunted houses and working at local farms can be exciting, there are some challenges along the way.

“Sometimes it’s difficult because not a lot of people volunteer to set [the school haunted house]up or take stuff down but it’s really difficult selling the tickets as well,” Marciello said.

Although many students enjoy their seasonal responsibilities, they must work on their time management skills to be able to balance their schoolwork.

“A major difficulty is probably balancing school and work because I work three times a week until five,” Madigan said. “While I’m there, I have to get a lot done in a short amount of time, so I get there at [around] 3:30 p.m. Then I have like an hour and a half tops to do all the stuff, [but] it’s worth it.”

This fall season has introduced new opportunities for students that have become a major part of their lives. Even though these jobs require time and effort, they can be very rewarding.

“It’s such a fun job. It’s really easy; the people are great and the animals are great,” Madigan said. “I’m definitely planning on working there for a while.”