U-High celebrated Halloween with the high school band’s Earl Shapiro Hall parade and a schoolwide costume contest in Café Lab on Oct. 30.

During first and second period, band members gathered at ESH and played as younger students paraded around ESH in their costumes.

The parade began as the band warmed up. A group of students would be marching with the students and smaller bands on the corners of ESH to make sure music was heard at all places.

For ninth grader Kate Notowidigdo, she found it very rewarding to play for such a fun crowd.

The celebration continued at lunch with the costume contest, where students showed off their creativity for a chance to win. 

The categories this year were most creative, best group/duo, best homemade, and funniest.

Annabel Wilson, one of the winners for Best Homemade, said it took her three weeks to order everything for her costume and three days to build it. She added that all the effort was worth it.

The winner of most creative, Aya El Bissati, originally postponed her idea of dressing up like Coraline, but in the end, she felt like dressing up brought her nostalgia for her childhood.

She also said the costume contest helped her enjoy community spirit and spend time with friends during a time in which she’d usually be doing work.

Together, the parade and costume contest gave students a break from their usual routines and brought a sense of fun and connection to the U-High and Lab community.

This is Chloé Tyndall reporting for the Midway.