Festivities started of as a typical all-school assembly except the Lower School students were dressed in costume and Upper School students wore orange and black instead of their usual dress-up day navy blazers. We sang Happy Birthday to this week’s birthday boy, said the Pledge of Allegiance and enjoyed a speech from eighth grader Derek on why we should love, not fear sharks. Third, fourth and fifth graders sang Halloween Night accompanied by a small group of instrumentalists from grades 5, 7 and 8. Then, an even bigger group came together to perform the traditional Halloween’s Coming – third graders played recorders and sang, fourth and fifth graders sang, played guitars, bass, Suzuki chimes, drums and Orff instruments. The Seventh Grade Instrumental Ensemble played boomwhackers and the Eighth Grade Instrumental Ensemble played violin, piano, keyboard, guitar, drums and xylophones. Ms. Lauer introduced this year’s PEL Fellows, Alice, Kevin, Xu and Eileen, who will be here at Unquowa working with our faculty mentors for the next two months. Once the announcements were made and all business taken care of, it was time for the main event – the Halloween Parade! Our Lower School students lined up and made several laps around the gym to show off their fantastic costumes to parents, faculty, staff and Upper School! It was my first Halloween at Unquowa and I’m already thinking about my costume for next year!