On Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, the Haskell Student Activities Department hosted a Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest during the annual Halloween Carnival. From 6 to 8pm, members of the campus and Lawrence community gathered in Tecumseh Hall to participate in various spooky-themed games and festivities.
According to Recreation Assistant Leandra Galindo, the pumpkin carving contest was judged on creativity. Exactly 19 students registered for this year’s contest, which according to Galindo, is the highest number of student participants ever recorded. The pumpkins were purchased from Checkers, a locally owned grocery store here in Lawrence. The pumpkin carving kits were a little harder to come by. According to Galindo, she had to visit two different Walmarts in a dedicated hunt for tools.
Fun fact: The tradition of pumpkin carving originally comes from Irish folklore. Long ago, an Irish man named Stingy Jack tried to trick the spirits of the afterlife and was forced to roam the Earth forever with a glowing carved turnip to guide his way home. As time went on, the Irish people started carving scary faces into turnips and leaving them outside their homes to ward off the wandering spirit of Stingy Jack. Once Irish immigrants came to the United States, they substituted the turnips for pumpkins and now, pumpkin carving is a Halloween tradition.
To embrace this tradition, Haskell students drew upon their creativity and carved pumpkins with themes like Lightning McQueen, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jurassic Park, and more. Ultimately, Trina Tsinnie took home first place with the wendigo-skinwalker-owl themed pumpkin. Second place went to Jaivin Bad Bear with the realistic painted eyeball pumpkin. And finally, third place went to Niyan Washburn with the green painted turtle pumpkin. Congratulations to all winners!
