On the early morning of Halloween, algebra teacher Patty Blake walked into room 267 for a staff breakfast. But when she entered the room, she was greeted with a round of applause and pure disbelief tainted her face.

After her initial shock dialed down, Blake scanned the room to see that everybody from her department was dressed wearing her classic outfit: a blouse matching the color of her shoes, jeans and a jean jacket.

“One day, I hope to be the Patty Blake at the school,” algebra teacher Jessica Chaney said.

Since August, SHS’s math department has thoughtfully planned out this Halloween costume surprise to honor Blake’s 55 years of dedication to teaching.

The idea was initially formed when Blake gave out jean jackets to Chaney and math teacher Justin Magbanua as an attempt to get rid of some clothes. This later led them to form the idea to dress up as another “Ms. Blake.”

In order to keep this secret hidden from Blake, moments after the school day ended, Chaney and Magbanua rushed down to the math hallway to spread their idea to everyone but her.

Over the two months, the group had created a chain of emails discussing the attire for the event. Another teacher even offered to take any of Blake’s clothes out of the box sitting in his classroom.

“Almost everyone is actually wearing a piece of her clothing,” Chaney said.

However, nothing beat Blake’s face when the secret was finally revealed to her. After realizing what was in front of her face, all emotions of astonishment came rushing to her. 

To her, the most meaningful part of the surprise was that the idea was to honor her commitment and diligence dedicated to teaching.

“I can’t believe they went through the trouble of doing that,” Blake said.