Students and families enjoy the Jefferson Middle School Fall Fest, held on Oct. 30. The theme of the event this year was “Health & Wellness.”

The Jefferson Middle School community came together through its annual “Fall Fest” — a family event organized by the school’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) team.

Each year, the event brings together students, families, and community partners for an evening designed to celebrate connection and creativity. This year, the event had a theme: “Health and Wellness.”

Seventh- and eighth-grade ELA teacher Alex Moore, one of the event’s organizers, said the goal was to create hands-on activities that both entertained and taught valuable skills: a stress-ball craft to practice emotional regulation, an acorn project to strengthen fine motor skills, and even a “TP Mummy” station that encouraged literacy by having students name their mummy and write its backstory.

“We planned out our activities around different skill sets, and one of our biggest goals each year: to bring together the Jefferson community,” Moore said.

And bring it together, it did. More than 14 community organizations joined the celebration, along with 20 student volunteers, 30 staff members, and 10 additional helpers from the PTO and Allen Park Women’s Club.

“Events like FallFest are extremely important to maintaining and improving relationships between our school and families,” Moore said. “They provide an opportunity for conversations, lighthearted interactions, and relationship building.”

Perhaps the most anticipated part of the evening was Jefferson’s “haunted hallway” — an immersive space transformed each year by staff volunteers. According to Moore, nearly six months of planning and countless hours go into the development and set up.

“Each year we try to improve our hallway,” he said. “It’s a massive undertaking that takes months of prep work… from the end of the day until the doors open, we’re putting up tarps, setting up decorations, and working as hard as we can before the doors open.”

Moore is grateful for the community and staff support that helps bring together the event each year.

“We are extremely lucky to have such an involved community and staff to create our school’s biggest event!” Moore said.