The pumpkins and skeletons that students see when they walk into Spanish teacher Cindy Eppes’ classroom aren’t just for Halloween. They’re for the celebration of Dia de los Muertos.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a Mexican celebration, is a day to celebrate, remember and prepare special foods in honor of those who have departed. This year Eppes allowed her spanish classes to participate in the celebration by doing various projects.

“Every year I allow my students to participate in Dia de los Muertos,” Eppes said. “I think that it teaches the kids a lot about the Hispanic culture and gives them a chance to learn of different ways that the holiday is celebrated in Mexico”.

Some of the students created painted pumpkins. By doing this, they had a chance to display their individual creativeness.

“I like the fact that we got to chose what we could do for our project,” junior Bryce Ryder said. “It gave me a chance to add my own personal touches to it.”

The students also got to create ofrendas, collections of objects placed on an altar during the annual celebration. The objects are symbols to remind them of those that have passed on.

“I made an ofrenda for my grandma,” junior Gracie Ferguson said. “I put a picture of her in it, flowers because she loved them, and her favorite necklace.”

Students enjoyed eating some of the many foods of Dia de los Muertos, and students shared memories of their loved ones.

“I enjoyed listening to the stories that everyone had to share,” Eppes said. “Many times people tend to think of death as something bad. However, Dia de los Muertos is nothing of the sort. It was nice to take some time out of my day to remember and honor those who’ve passed.”