It’s Halloween time – the leaves on trees are turning colors, tombstone decorations populate front yards of houses, and people dress up in all sorts of costumes on Oct. 31. Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, Halloween festivities may look different this year. In order to unite students and spread the Halloween spirit, the Associated Student Body (ASB) planned a virtual Halloween spirit week from Monday, Oct. 26 to Friday, Oct. 30.

On Monday, students were encouraged to join their Zoom classes from the comfort of their pajamas. Students showcased their skill in carving pumpkins on Tuesday, and their skull- and goblin-decorated houses on Wednesday. On Thursday, students cozied up in front of the fire to watch scary movies, and will showcase their Halloween costumes on Friday.

According to High School 1327 (HS 1327) ASB President and senior Ella Acker, the goal for the Halloween spirit week was for it to be as similar as possible to a spirit week that would occur in physical school.

“The whole idea is kind of just to be some sort of solidarity behind not being able to be there in person,” Acker said.

In order to participate, students can post photos to their Instagram stories of the completed activities and tag the HS 1327 Instagram account (@high.school.1327). Then, students’ photos will be reposted and shared for the community to see. According to Acker, students who do not use Instagram can send their photos to any ASB member through text or email to be reposted on the HS 1327 Instagram account.

Despite its similarity in the Instagram participation method, ASB aimed to make this year’s virtual Halloween spirit week more widely-known than the spirit week in April of 2020.

“We’re going to try to really power it in and make sure everybody knows all the spirit days because I think it did get lost a little in translation last year…we’re really working on advertising,” Acker said.

Some HS 1327 students, such as senior Kate Chaplin and junior Beatrice Mancini, are happy to see the return of the virtual spirit week.

“I’m glad that we still have virtual spirit weeks because it is nice to see the involvement in our community at H.S 1327,” Chaplin said.

According to Mancini, the virtual Halloween spirit week has been an interactive and creative way for students to embrace Halloween spirit so far.

“I would normally forget about these activities but spirit week has gotten me engaged and ready for Halloween,” Mancini said.

Despite not being able to experience the Halloween spirit on campus this year, HS 1327 students stay connected by participating in the activities of the virtual Halloween spirit week.