There is one classroom at James Bay Community School that is impossible to miss at this time of the year.
For the past five years, Grade 4 teacher Dave Vargas has transformed his into a den of Halloween sights and frights.
He then invites students, parents and anyone else who dares to come in to see his display of ghosts, goblins and ghouls.
Vargas even kept his haunted classroom open Friday and Monday night this year to allow those who can’t make during the day to come have a look
“There’s been a whole bunch of people just walking by that wanted to poke their head in,” says Vargas.
“Its been great, its been a great turnout, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
The cost of admission is a donation that goes to class field trips and resources.
The hair-raising idea is one that he came up with after thinking back to his childhood.
“I actually went through a haunted classroom when I was a kid and it kind of stuck with me,” said Vargas.
“I thought it was such a fun, cool thing, there’s a reason why people love Halloween.”
The transformation takes some planning and quite a bit of work, even his students get in on the act.
“Thursday night we set up, Friday we tried to do a spelling test and some reading in here,” he said.
“Today, we actually did class in the library and tomorrow we actually host the whole school, they come by class by class.”
On Wednesday, Vargas admits he’ll have to tackle his least favorite part of the experience and take all the Halloween decorations down.
But he’ll probably be able to scare up the courage to do it all again next year.
Ben O'Hara
