The traditional Pumpkin Carving Contest of I.H.S. Spirit Week rallies up energy among the classes. The competition aims to determine which group can carve the most attractive and artistic pumpkin.

The rules allow each class to submit at least two pumpkins. The judges are a chosen group of teachers who rank each pumpkin between one to ten. Each judge ranks the pumpkins however they want.

Not all pumpkins make the cut; the best pumpkins earn points, so mediocre work earn no points. That means one grade could win first, another grade could win second, or one grade could win first and second place.

The Freshmen class carvers were Jackie Manchester and Shannon McFayden. The freshmen say they did not know there was a special theme was required.

“We just carved a normal pumpkin," Manchester said, adding that the assignment to carve pumpkins virtually fell into their laps. "Were called up by another classmate to carve a pumpkin," so they did.

Each pumpkin reportedly took the girls an hour to carve.

Who can blame the Freshmen for not making their pumpkins attractive? Every year, Spirit Week presents a Freshmen with a learning curve.

The Sophomore class was very disappointed in their contribution to the Pumpkin Carving Contest; they did not submit any pumpkins at all. The Sophomore class officers had asked a classmate to help them with the pumpkin carving, but something went wrong.

“They must have forgotten," Sophomore Class President Annabelle Berkman said, "but it is not their fault because they did not know the deadline."

Since the Sophomore class did not submit their pumpkins, they are going to lose points for that event. Now the class will all have to step up this week to gain more points in other events.

The pumpkin carvers for the Junior class were Rachel Calinami and Catherine Benjamin who helped gain points for their class.

The Junior's produced a "Go Green" pumpkin and a "Whopper"-shaped pumpkin which reportedly demanded one hour to carve. The “Go Green” pumpkin took them longer to make because that was not their first planned design. There first plan was to make a pumpkin shaped like the planet Earth, but after an initial "mess up," they had to think of another idea.

“We could not think of anything else to do next, so we looked outside and said, lets ‘Go Green’," Catherine Benjamin said. "And that’s what we did.”

The Junior "Whopper" idea came to mind after the class Googled "pumpkin carvings." Despite this effort, spectators found the "Whopper" pumpkin somewhat familiar; last year's Junior class pumpkin theme was also the "Whopper."

Were the Juniors aware of this similarity from last year?

The Junior girls honestly replied: "We forgot."

After all the girls' work, at the end of the school day the Junior Whopper pumpkin had been knocked over. Thankfully, the pumpkin was saved and not destroyed.

Senior Class President Audrey Shaughessy was the pumpkin carver for her grade. Her plan was to carve one pumpkin with the face of Illinios Senator Barack Obama, and the other pumpkin featured the face of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Each pumpkin only took an hour each of carving, Shaughnessy reports.

“This year some students of the Senior class are able to vote and the idea just came to mind because of the election,” Shaughnessy said, while cheering for the Senior class.

Betsy Hutton, a math teacher who judged the pumpkin contest, said: “I was interested in the political pumpkins because they showed the most effort and were the most artistic.”