Zoey Liu / Staff reporter
October has gone. Gleneagle staff actively participated into the preparations of Halloween. They held pumpkin carving events for international students and decorated the school to bring Halloween theme to everyone.
According to Wikipedia for Halloween, Halloween happens on every October 31, which is the day before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. Halloween is also called Hallowe’en, Allhalloween, All Hallow’ Eve, and All Saints’ Eve. Some common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, participating in Halloween costume parties, and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns.
Roberto Ramogida, international student supervisor organized a pumpkin carving event for all international students.
“I went to store, and I bought pumpkins……. We put 25 pumpkins in the back of the truck, and we drove them to Gleneagle. The tools I bought were from another grocery store, with packages with multiple tools, and also stencils form the pumpkins.” said Ramogida.
Considering there are still some Covid-19 restrictions. Ramogida did the following things to ensure students’ safety.
“…… So, we’re going to always do our best to physically distance ourselves from each other, so we have the pumpkins spaced out, in the space like MPR, where there are lots of space where people can spread out, as well as ensuring that masks are always worn,” said Ramogida. “It might not be a lot of handing candies and drinks and have people eating their snacks. We are not gonna do that, so we actually have to send people home with their snacks and their food so that way they can eat them in a safe space, so that way we just make sure that masks stay on. Tools will not be shared. There is gonna be a lot hand sanitizer.”
Ramogida also bought a bunch of tools to avoid students sharing tools.
Gleneagle library also had some lovely decorations hanging on.
“They’ve been gathered by the library team over the years. [Jo-Anne] Leblond, who was the (former) teacher/librarian, loves to go to garage sells. And so, she always seems to find a great deal of many things that we have in our background. And then we just picked up something to the door there and add them together……” said Lynn Cecchini, the librarian.
“We like to make the library feel like home for students. And so, [Valerie] Eaton, our library assistant, is in charge of decorating the library for the season and making it an inviting space. All of a sudden the magic appears. We are so lucky to have Mrs. Eaton working in that space. So, welcoming.” said Cecchini.
Unlike previous years, students can do their annual Halloween fashion show according to the article Sprits raised with week-long Halloween events, written by Catherine King, this year, the Halloween celebration still couldn’t go back to normal. Many fun activities need to wait still.
According to the article 2021-2022 health and safety protocols: k-12, written by School District 43 (Coquitlam), “In indoor spaces, people should have enough room to carry out the intended activity without involuntary physical contact with another person. In indoor common spaces (e.g., hallways, cafeterias, etc.), schools may continue to use floor markings and posters to direct traffic flow.
For indoor activities that bring together multiple classes or other groupings of students in close proximity for a prolonged period of time (e.g., school assemblies, multiple classes doing physical activity in a gym), schools should ensure that people are spread out within the available space.” It is clear that students and staff still need to follow these instructions to help themselves stay safe in the pandemic.
Scott Findley, English teacher, also the biggest fun of Halloween in Gleneagle, expressed his ideas: “The parade is the only one that I can really think of……. You can’t really do a haunted room because we have to have some people where they are in the room hiding. We’ve done it in the past. That is probably too close (as a Halloween) activity, so I think the parade is the only the returning activity that could happen under the current health guidelines.”
Cecchini thought that there are two things that students can do to celebrate the Halloween. The first thing is dressing up, and the second thing is decorating the doors with our Halloween theme decorations.
Cecchini also appealed that people should bring the nature back to Halloween. Cerebrating Halloween in a green way is a good way to protect our mother earth.
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Pictures:
- (Composite feature image) Halloween pumpkins and Mask-Covid-19
- Halloween
- A dog in its costume