As fall arrives, freshman Kaia Starnino said the season changing has affected her day-to-day choices.

“Now that it’s getting colder, I’m beginning to start wearing sweaters, especially sweater vests and long sleeves, and with skirts I have to wear tights,” Starnino said. “The cooler weather is nice, too, but the food choices that come along with fall are great, too, like pumpkin spice lattes and also pumpkin pie. I don’t know if you’ve tried both of them before, but all pumpkin-flavored foods that are limited or basically fall-themed are great”.

The changing weather has impacted more people than just Starnino. Senior Laura Martens also said the season changing alters her practical clothing choices.

“There’s practical design with functional design, but there’s also the autumn vibes, like, ‘oh it’s cold outside so I’m not going to wear crop tops outside because it’s cold now’, but I do like wearing fall clothes like sweaters, trench coats, jeans and boots,” Martens said. “In fall, though, there’s also the theme of wearing deeper colors like maroons, browns or greens, and you start wearing more muted colors.”

Orchestra director Maggie Hite said she enjoys fall foods and trends. She also said fall is a good season since it isn’t too hot anymore.

“The foods that you associate fall with are back, or you just feel like you should get them. Like apple cider, pumpkin squash-all the orange fall foods-I just love them,” Hite said. “The temperature hasn’t dropped where I feel like I have to change my style too much, but I’m looking forward to sweaters and jacket weather, but also not so cold where I have to wear gloves and boots for snow.”

Dressing up isn’t the only change the new season brings. While food and fashion are key components of fall, Hite also said she has fond memories related to the fall chore of raking leaves.

She said, “When I was a child, I remember me and my parents gathering leaves in the yard and jumping through them, and I remember one year there was this old laundry chute, which is like some sort of tunnel that’s flexible, and so we took that outside and put leaves over and in it, so it was like a tunnel through leaves that we could crawl through. It was just one of the things I remember and think back on that I liked”.

Various fall holidays also mark the season. Hite said she and her family also celebrate Rosh Hashanah, an event she finds special to her.

“So my family is Jewish and so we have holidays and important events in the Fall. One is the Jewish new year,” Hite said,  “and so we celebrate by letting go of our mistakes and setting resolutions, similar to the (Gregorian Calendar’s) new year. There’s just a lot of things in fall that make this season fun.” 

Like Hite, Martens said she likes to celebrate fall holidays in her own way.

“I feel like a lot of people have a list of fall activities they like to do, like different families have different traditions, but I like fall because it’s near my birthday so I kind of associate it with getting presents,” Martens said. “Also for Halloween I always decorate my house with bats on the ceiling, and I always dress up as a witch and scare little kids. It’s just one of those things you do.”

Along with holidays, there are many activities and traditions that students and teachers said they enjoy. Food picking, especially apple and pumpkin picking, is particularly popular.

“I just love going apple picking with my friends,” Starnino said. “I should go apple picking this year; it would be so much fun, I think another big tradition for me is doing anything regarding pumpkins. I also love to bake lots of things that have pumpkins as an ingredient or flavor, and Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes are actually very good. I’ve never done it, but I would like to try pumpkin picking sometime, it just seems so enjoyable and a very nice thing to do.”

Hite said she likes fall the most. The holidays and the atmosphere of the season is something she said everyone can enjoy. 

“Fall is my favorite season, and one thing I just love to do is take walks in wooded areas,” Hite said.  “Some of the best places to go are state parks, and there you can just take time to look at the visual changes, as the leaves turn colors, and you feel the drop in temperature.”