WEB EXCLUSIVE Students and faculty alike gathered today for the first in-person chapel in two years to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  

“Día de Los Muertos is a really important holiday and it’s good that our school celebrates it because we get to see other people’s cultures and appreciate it,” sophomore Frida Cruz said. “It also really brings the community together which I thought was really great.”

Día de Los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that honors the deceased and reunites the living with the dead through remembrance. The holiday takes place from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2.

“It was a beautiful representation of our community,” IB coordinator and English teacher Emily Wilson Brenner said. “I loved that everyone had the opportunity to think of someone that they were remembering and the fact that was participatory. ”

Students and faculty were given the opportunity to honor the names of loved ones and keep their spirit alive by bringing a photo of them to place on the ofrenda. Towards the end of the chapel, all community members were given marigolds to place on the ofrenda as well. These flowers are believed to guide the spirits to their altars.

“It was a valuable time, and it was nice because it’s the first time our community could meet together in-person,” junior Julia Kearney said. “It was a great chapel and a meaningful way to start meeting in person as a whole community as well.”

In order to attend chapel and follow COVID-19 guidelines, the upperclassmen and lower classmen were divided into two different groups and attended the chapel from 1:30 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m., respectively. 

“It was a really nice way to physically spend time in the chapel for the first time,” Cruz said “Even though not all the grade levels were there simultaneously, it was still really meaningful.”