Students and clubs carve pumpkins to win ‘Spooktacular’ prize
NICHOLLE SALVATIERRA | STAFF EDITOR
The afternoon of Oct. 25, ASRCC hosted the annual Pumpkin Carving Contest in the quadrangle.
For this event both club and individual contestants carved pumpkins within an hour and judged by their ability to fit any of the four award categories.
Awards were given to the scariest, funniest, most creative, as well as the overall winner, which earned the most “Spooktacular” use of theme.
The theme for this year was A Fairy Tale Night.
Each club could carve one pumpkin as a group, and individuals could compete.
The contest included 19 competitors, 13 of which were clubs at RCC including photo club, active minds, law society, athletic training and many more that were competing against
each other.
Contestants not associated with clubs were welcome to enter along with members of the homecoming court.
Homecoming contestant, Bree Dennis participated in the contest. “I dedicated my pumpkin to heroes, and to me firefighters are heroes,” said Dennis.
Dennis’ pumpkin was designed to resemble a fire being hosed down by firefighters.
Her pumpkin used materials including paint, tissue paper, glitter and figurines that looked like a firefighter with its Dalmatian.
Many other contestants included unique materials to construct their pumpkins.
The Graphix Club designed their entry to look like a mad scientist, by using a mannequin body, lab coat, wig, colorful beakers and fake blood to add an element of gore.
Their pumpkin was a scientist’s head, with his face carved.
The Graphix Club was awarded, “Most Scariest,” at the end of the contest.
The pumpkins were carved to resemble a variety of different characters including fairies, jack-o-lanterns, Shrek and Cinderella’s carriage.
At the end of the hour a panel of three judges viewed the pumpkins.
The pumpkins that received awards include Ujima Project, Graphix Club, homecoming court members Kendall McCarolle, Yvette Salazar and Pedro Hernandez, as well as the overall winning entry, which went to Colleges Against Cancer.
The ladies from Colleges Against Cancer constructed a Nightmare Before Christmas theme pumpkin, with a tall standing Jack Skellington accompanied by his ghost dog companion, Zero.
Club member Roxy Orantes King designed the concept for their entry.
“We wanted a pumpkin that people of all ages could relate to, and I feel like children and adults can appreciate it,” said King.
“Besides, who doesn’t love Zero.
A lot of time went into creating the concept for our pumpkin. We had spent two meetings to plan our idea.”
Constructing Jack’s body and outfit alone too k 17 hours, and they spent countless hours searching for the proper materials at different thrift stores.
Members of Colleges Against Cancer along with King’s family helped to construct the props and carve the head for the finished product.
The pumpkins carved during the contest were all displayed at RCC’s Halloween Town event held in the Quad, Oct.25.
