A huge tradition at Palisade High School is our spooktastic Halloween Assembly, where the attendees are ghostbusters, barbies, zombies, lions, and ghosts, compared to the regular Palisade students we typically see. The assembly was hosted in the main gym with lots of Halloween fun and festivities. This year, Halloween landed on a school day, Tuesday, October 31st, giving it an extra special feel.
This assembly was hosted by the staff rather than the Student Council, so the whole student body got to experience it for the first time. The assembly opened with a group costume contest where several students from each grade level dressed up together with a cohesive theme for a chance to win. Iconic groups such as the Mutant Ninja Turtles, Men In Black, and other characters flooded the gym floor, but only three groups would rise to the top. The PHS Thespian Society created a beautiful ensemble of characters from The Wizard of Oz with a prominent Dorthy and Tinman, a group of freshmen as characters from the 2009 comedy The Hangover, but the overall winners were the group of juniors dressed up as familiar characters we’ve grown up with, from the movie The Lorax. To determine the winner of this contest, Mr. Howard used a tool called a decibel reader to determine which one of the groups had the most cheer and support from the student body.
After the student costume contest, the freshman academic mentor classes competed in an intense fall-themed game, having to sweep a full-sized pumpkin across the gym floor, using all their might and strength. Shortly after was another game from the sophomore class, which was to create the best, spookiest, and most lifelike mummy out of toilet paper. Each team raced to cover their chosen student to the best of their ability, and their own special touches to set them apart from the crowd.
Following the games was an incredible Halloween-themed performance from our very own cheerleading team, to Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit, Thriller. The team was dressed up as zombie cheerleaders, with Halloween-themed choreography and moves. The cheer Bulldogs always add an extra level of excitement and school spirit to each assembly, game, and event here at Palisade.
As a grand finale to the spooky festivities, the staff of Palisade has a very intense and heated group costume contest of their own. They spend months preparing their themes, outfits, and props to earn major bragging rights over the other departments. The math department was characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Special Education was Cat Burglars, the counselors were M&M’s, English was slumber party-themed, and History was Ghostbusters, but the winner of this competition was the Science department, dressed up as wrestlers. “It was super fun because the teachers really went all out and their costumes were really good. A memorable one was the science department who were wrestlers, it was so funny because they were all like fake wrestling and pushing each other to the ground. Mr. Smith killed it when he was wearing a bald cap and a fake muscle suit.” says sophomore Gaby Suazo.
Another great holiday season down, we’ll see you for more themed days soon! Go Bulldogs!
