The Girl Scouts... Struck by Lightning

                  Logar and Price in their uniforms looking out for the severe weather

Go hard or go home.

This is the motto used by roommates Sarah Price and Sarah Logar, who really understand the importance of a great Halloween costume.  These best friends have taken a traditional Halloween costume and put their own unique spin on it.  Along with their two other friends, they are being girl scouts who were struck by lighting at a troop camp out.  

"I was a girl scout struck by lightening when I was a senior in high school with my guy friend," Logar said.  "We won first place at my high school Halloween party, so I figured to be it again this year."

They needed an original costume idea that would outdo their previous mall-walker costumes that they were both very found of.  

The preparation for this costume has been going on since last summer.  Price's grandma has been working for months making their girl scout uniforms.  She handmade the hats, shirts, sashes with the patches and socks, which they received this week. 

                                      The uniform pieces designed by Price's grandma

A girl scout troop would not be complete without its official troop leaders.  Price's parents are coming down on Halloween and will be decked out in troop leader uniforms complements of her grandma.  

The part of the costume that her grandma does not know about is the fact that they are going to burn the costumes to make them look like they have been struck by lightning.  

"My mom and dad are not burning their costumes because they think it is stupid," Price said. "My grandma doesn't know that we are burning them, so that is why we are taking pictures and sending them to her before the burning."

The next step in the process is roughing up the uniforms, which will be taking place on Friday so they are ready to go on Saturday.  With this goofy group, it is safe to say that this will be a entertaining experience with a ton of laughs.  

The Importance of a Costume

                                             Photo of Halloween crowd on Court Street courtesy of The Athens NEWS

When my online journalism professor told our class that we needed to develop a blog that showed an ongoing process while applying journalistic practices, I was a little concerned because I am new to blogging.  I racked my brain for original story ideas, which is difficult for me because I tend to lack the creative gene.  Then, it hit me.  I would show the creative sides of others by documenting their costume-making processes for the Halloween party on campus. Costumes are a big deal at the annual Ohio University celebration.  The annual Halloween party brings thousands of costume-wearing partygoers from all over to celebrate in one of biggest block parties of the year.  Court Street is jam-packed with students sporting all different types of costumes and people-watching is one of the best parts of the experience.

Coming up with the story idea was actually a lot easier than finding students with creative costume ideas.  I wanted to find people who put more effort into their costumes than just strolling uptown and buying the first costume they like.  To my surprise, not many students have costume ideas three weeks in advance.  When talking to students around campus, I found a lot of people were being Joker from The Dark Night, Sarah Palin, or Barack Obama, which are all expected costume trends for 2008.  To me, these costume ideas were just too obvious.  I was in search of people who were thinking outside of the box.  

When choosing a costume, people can get inspiration from so many different outlets.  Luckily, I found three groups of students who strayed away from the "traditional" Halloween costume and were willing to let me document their experiences.  Their processes will be organized into three steps: getting the supplies, putting the materials together, and showcasing their finished products.  The purpose of this blog is to recognize the creative ability and hard work exerted by these festive students while also providing the readers with some original ideas for their own costumes.