Spirits were high at º£½ÇÊÓƵ on Halloween. Students and faculty alike embraced the holiday, with costumes ranging from a hot dog to Sherlock Holmes to five faculty and staff members dressing up as members of the women's baseball team The Rockford Peaches from the film A League of Their Own. The holiday gave various members of the school community the opportunity to express themselves creatively and take on a new identity for a day.

"I think [Halloween] lets students let their freak flags fly," said Alex, a junior who was dressed up as a giant inflatable horse.

GSX and the º£½ÇÊÓƵ student council combined forces to plan an afternoon filled with activities after an abbreviated class schedule. Some students focused on arts and crafts, and others practiced the choreography to Michael Jackson's song "Thriller." The dancers performed the steps they had just learned as a prelude to the Halloween costume contests.

Russell won the teachers costume contest for dressing up like Ariel from A Little Mermaid, in the process besting the Rockford Peaches quintet; Jacob, who went as an interactive stop sign; and Sam, who went as a Pokemon chaser, among a number of others.

"I'm speechless," Russell said.

"It's really nice to see teachers running around, dressing up," Alex added. "They seem to have a lot of fun."

Resplendent in bright pink, Isaac, a first year º£½ÇÊÓƵ student, won the student contest, for dressing up as Helga Pataki from the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold!.

"It was surprising," he said of winning, joking, "Because I didn't even know there was a costume competition."