Ghosts, goblins, Glicken, oh my!

Candice Glicken, English teacher, shows off her Halloween spirit by giving her classroom a spooky Halloween makeover every year. Glicken decorates her room with ghosts, witches, cob webs, and even singing skulls.

            “I was walking in Jewel when I heard singing,” Glicken said, as she laughed. “When I came closer I saw three sculls singing ‘Shout.’ I had to get them.”

            These singing skulls are Glicken’s latest edition to her creepy collection, and definitely one of Glicken’s and her students’ favorite decoration.

            “I only do it for the kids, if they didn’t love it, I would stop decorating,” Glicken said, smiling. “But as far as I can tell, they love it as much as I do. They always push the button to make the skulls sing. Sometimes I might even have to take them down because the kids drive me crazy.”

            A few years ago, students even inspired Glicken to take her Halloween spirit to a whole new level.

“[Mrs. Glicken] dressed up as the Wicked Witch of the West,” said Debbie Gummerson, Glicken’s friend and former English teacher. “She wore face paint with a wig and dressed up like a witch.”

Glicken’s students were so impressed with her costume, they asked her to auction a picture of herself for a Charity Bash auction.

            “I think my picture won maybe $25. I think I even made a second copy to put up for them.” Glicken said.

            Glicken got in trouble for her over the top outfit and since that year, faculty was officially never allowed to dress the part of a Halloween character again.

            “At the time we had our then principal, [Mr. Egan] and students weren’t allowed to dress up,” Gummerson said. “[Glicken] probably didn’t realize the rule applied to faculty as well.”

            That never stopped Glicken’s soul from getting into spirit. Glicken loved to trick her new students, whether freshmen, seniors, or in between.

            “I have a plastic hand that I stuffed into the ceiling. The hand stuck out hanging over the doorway,” Glicken said. “I told my seniors that it was a hand from a freshman who misbehaved, and I told my freshman that it was a hand of a senior who misbehaved.”

            Gummerson knew from the time they met, Glicken was prankster. The two met in college where they studied English at the University of Illinois.

            “We didn’t know each other too well, but I had a suspicion she was a little out there,” Gummerson said.

 Although they weren’t close friends until Glicken started working at LZHS with Gummerson.

            Glicken has always been into Halloween, starting when she was a little girl. Her father was in the music business, so for Halloween her family gave out old 45 records instead of candy, according to Glicken.

            “Everyone always came to my house to trick-or-treat. They loved getting something other than candy,” Glicken said.

            Glicken got into the spirit young, and hopes to pass on the spooky tradition to her students.

            “I’ve always loved Halloween, it’s one of the holidays where it’s kind of non religious and more universally accepted,” Glicken said. “Then there are holidays like Thanksgiving that are universal, but are not fun to decorate.

            Everyone who has had Glicken in the past would know the extent she goes to, to make her room a fun place fore Halloween lovers, like herself.

“People will remember her for [her decorating], Gummerson said. “She has made herself quite a reputation at the school.”