Most high school students have a job, but very few are paid to dress up like a clown and scare their customers.

Connor Newman, senior, is a paid actor at Six Flags Great America during Fright Fest, a time when Six Flags turns into a Halloween theme park from September to November. This is Newman’s second year working at Fright Fest, and he is stationed in the Mardi Gras section.

“I used to work in a haunted house. I worked at St. Matthew’s for eight years, and the pastor there shut it down completely, so I looked for other ways to let out my passion,” Newman said.

According to Newman, his whole job as a scare actor at Six Flags is improvisation, which is acting spontaneously and without preparation.

“They just let you go wild,” Newman said. A main part of his job audition focused on his ability to perform improv.

“The way I view it is a magnification of who you actually are, because what I am is a clown,” Newman said. “As a clown, I can be whoever I want, whatever I want: multiple personalities, jumping around, anything.”

According to Newman, Six Flags is the best place to work. His first year applying for the job, the interviewers placed him in front of a large camera and asked him a few questions. They then had him do a clown laugh and improv, and they chose a topic for him to talk about: museums. They did not interview him his second year, but brought him back on staff.

“[All the workers and I] are kind of like a cult,” Newman said. “No one’s [more] important; we’re all the same. I support them. We each believe in what we do as much as the next person.”