Fall is officially in the air at Moravian Academy! After a few confusing months of hot and cold weather, the heaters are finally on and even the leaves on the gorgeous Upper School campus are decked in Moravian red and gold. MA students have settled in after nearly two months of school, arriving now with pumpkin spice lattes and minimal complaints in the morning.

Although every month here is incredibly busy, autumn is an especially active time for student life.

In the last few weeks, Moravian Academy’s fall sports teams have been wrapping up their incredibly successful seasons. The varsity girls tennis team swept the Colonial League Championship, winning gold across the board. Chessie Bartolacci ’24 won her third gold medal at the District XI singles tournament, and the entire team won its fifth districts gold in a row. Fingers are crossed for a successful run at states.

The golf team enjoyed success at both leagues and districts as well, with Emma Xu ’25 and Mara Dubacher ’26 winning first and second, Collin Schreiber ’26 tied for sixth, and Ford Koch ’24 tied for 10th in the league tournament. The team won the District XI Team Title and is also on the road to states.

The boys and girls soccer teams, girls field hockey team, and cross-country team have all been enjoying success in their seasons as well: it’s a wonderful time to root for the Lions.

Outside of sports, it has been a busy week as students have been enjoying beloved activities like Spirit Week. The highlight of this year’s themes was surely Rhyme No Reason, where students enjoyed dressing up as otherwise unrelated words in groups. Notable groups included Post Malone/Traffic Cone and Princess/Wild West.

On Friday night, students also sang and danced with their friends at Open Mic Night, where the school’s a cappella group, Coda Red, also performed a few songs from its repertoire. The energy at Open Mic Night is infectious, and students always have fun at this low-stakes opportunity to belt karaoke with their friends.

Spirit Week ended with a busy Saturday. During the day, the MA community came together for a beloved tradition, Country Fair, despite the dreary weather. The morning kicked off with the 5K Fun Run, where many past and current cross-country runners and other members of the small but strong MA running community persevered through the muddy course.

The day continued as students and their families enjoyed booths, food trucks, carnival rides and performances up on the main stage. Many fairgoers could be spotted walking around with snacks from student-run booths like the DECA Cafe, dunking their favorite (or least favorite) teachers in the dunk tank, and playing carnival games like the ring toss.

Our cherished alumni were also part of the crowd on campus as they reunited for a joyous alumni luncheon to celebrate Alumni Weekend. The night ended with the Homecoming dance: although MA students don’t have the traditional football game, they made up for it by enjoying the dance with their friends.

After this week of fun, however, students are sure to be working hard until their next days off. Looking forward, Coffeehouse (MA’s annual variety show) and auditions for the winter musical are approaching and students are looking forward to Thanksgiving Break.

Seniors are hustling to write and submit their early college applications, and as we approach parent-teacher conferences, the academic atmosphere here will be building as students continue to strive for excellence. Here at Moravian, we take both work and play seriously, and this month is proving to be a great start to a school year filled with both. Go Lions!