Staff Ed: Stay safe on Halloween Weekend

By THE BLUE & GRAY PRESS STAFF

Halloween has always been one of the best holidays. As kids, it was the one night we could be whatever we wanted, eat a ridiculous amount of free candy and force our friends to watch scary movies. At college, the Halloween fun does not end with the onset of adulthood, but is repeated over three nights collectively called “Halloweekend.”

This extension of Halloween festivities means various costumes, multiple parties, many drunken college students and more opportunities to find yourself in an unfortunate position. While attending the Halloween-themed parties that make up Halloweekend should be extremely enjoyable, nothing ruins a fun weekend like receiving a referral, getting arrested or going to the hospital.

These events can be easily avoided with just a bit of pre-planning. Get a group of friends together and stick with them throughout the night. Keep track of your friends through safety apps like Rave Guardian, Find My Friends or even the Snapchat map. Charge your phone before you go out and carry it with you at all times. Be aware of your surroundings and have a plan for getting home or make plans beforehand for where to spend the night. If you plan on driving, make sure to have a designated driver for the night. Save the emergency and non-emergency phone numbers for the UMW Police in your phone as well as the local police department number for if you are off-campus, and don’t hesitate to call for help if you see someone in trouble.

That said, the Blue & Gray staff wishes everyone a spook-tacular Halloweekend, but hopefully with the kind of fun that doesn’t come back to bite you or leave you to deal with the consequences come Monday.