Coloring. Yoga. Futsal.

These might sound like activities reserved only for weekends, but this week we saw each of them and many more taking place right here on campus!

The three-day stretch known as Octoberim gives Upper School students the opportunity to, as Head Class of 2018 Advisor Joel Gray puts it, "take care of business." Octoberim is designed to consolidate Upper School responsibilites such as the PSATs, college visits, and service learning all into one--and tack on some good self-care in the process.

On Wednesday afternoon, each Upper Schooler chose two Wellness Workshops to help ease stress and spend time in relaxed settings with peers. One workshop, run by VJ Sathyaraj, involved students sitting in a dark, quiet room watching soothing videos to explore stress relief through the power of music. Educators Sue Jensen and Maria McIvor took a group of students (pictured above) to the Portland Art Museum in order to experience work by Andy Warhol and Sister Corita Kent.

And down in SPARC, Mike Gwaltney and Chad Gilton (history and math teachers, respectively) first shared the basic skills of futsal with students, then turned them loose for a game.

The week culminated in a day of service titled "SLOctoberim." In keeping with OES' identity of exercising our power for good, students and employees visited 22 different organizations in need of assistance. Service activities included painting the music room at Grace Episcopal Church, performing end-of-season gardening work in Fulton Park, and cooking a meal for men experiencing homelessness at the Clark Center Shelter.