ORIENTATION WEEK. The very first week of school, which students spend on campus before classes ever start; the primary purpose of it is to educate the new students about their animals and what's going to happen during the bonding ceremony, but it's also a useful time for students to reacquaint themselves with the school schedule and become accustomed to the new year. A lot of clubs and sports teams meet during the first week to discuss the upcoming year and get a head start on elections and figuring out who's going to replace the seniors who graduated the previous June and a lot of the sports players hop right into practice and exercise to get into shape for the season. All of the returning students are expected to watch out for the new students (whether they be Freshmen or Seniors) and to help them as they need it. The main reason classes aren't held during the first week is because every teacher is too busy helping out with the new students, but the administration coordinates enough events during Orientation Week that they don't have to worry about the returning students getting idle and trying to make their own fun. The school hosts concerts, picnics, movie and pizza days, and all kinds of other events -- in fact, it's got more stuff crammed into it than most students can possibly attend all of, and even if attendance weren't required the first week, most students could find something happening during Orientation Week that interested them.

BONDING CEREMONY. Perhaps the most important ceremony during the entire school year (even including graduation, which is a close second), the bonding ceremony is important because it is what proves that a student truly belongs in the midst of the students at Lucian Academy. It is when they become bonded to an animal and receive whatever powers come with that bond. The Bonding Ceremony takes place at the end of the first week of school (known as the Orientation Week). Even the students who have already been bonded to an animal look forward to the event, because it's preceded and followed by lots of celebrations and a huge dance -- not to mention the positive emotions that are flooding through the air and the surge of magic that flashes through the school at the moment of bonding. That surge of magic acts as somewhat of an intoxicant for anyone near enough to feel its effects -- and the students and faculty of Lucian Academy, all of whom are in the large auditorium that is used for the Bonding Ceremony. Those effects last for the rest of the day and, for some people, even into the next morning.

BIG BROTHER, BIG SISTER. During their first year at Lucian Academy, every new student is assigned either a big brother or big sister -- usually a senior or a junior who has shown himself or herself to be exceptionally responsible and mature -- to teach him or her about the Academy and, more importantly, about the animals. The big brothers and sisters are there to answer any and all questions that the new student may have and, if they don't know the answer, to take them to someone who does. Although many of the big and little brothers and sisters might not get along in the beginning, by the end of the first year, most pairs are usually friends of some degree. Not only is it a good way for new students to learn about their new animal bonded and all of the secrets of Lucian Academy, they are also immediately pulled into the social network that exists inside of Lucian because that is one tie that they have -- one person they know. The big brothers and sisters often end up helping with classes and acting as not only a mentor, but a counselor of sorts for the new students; in essence, they usually do figuratively become a big brother or sister.

FIELD DAYS. Days in which student teams are pitched against each other in a series of events that are made to test their magical abilities and how much they have learned. Despite the fact that the idea originated as a way for the faculty and administration to make sure that students weren't abandoning their independent magical studies for goofing around or other homework assignments, they are also seen as a way of measuring how well students work with each other and their bonded animals. Sometimes, students are even paired solely with their bonded animal, although for the majority of the time, they're assigned to a group of other students of varying ages and powers. The assigned days that the activities will be held on are always announced several weeks in advance so that students have time to become mentally prepared for them; unlike normal classes, however, it's impossible to have a cram session for learning to control magic, so teachers invariably know which students are paying attention to their magical studies and which aren't.

SCHOOL DANCES. Throughout the school year, Lucian Academy hosts many dances, including the popular Valentine's Day, Homecoming, and Prom dances. They usually have some kind of theme and, more often than not, are a result of the student body doing something to deserve the administration granting them another dance -- not that they ever really need a reason, especially since the administration seems to be as fond of dances as the students are, for all the reasons they come up with to host them.

HALLOWEEN. Probably the only night of the year that the school building is left unlocked for students to run around in. In the early days of October, a committee is formed of students of all ages and grades who plan a haunted house on their campus grounds -- it's a very spread-out task (although usually the administration limits them to only a few buildings and a few acres of the campus), and usually involves the effort of animals, humans, and magic all working together. On Halloween night, students show up at the designated entrance, many in couples and others in groups, all decked in vastly different costumes of varying levels of decency (much to the chagrin of some professors, the only restriction the administration places on the students' costumes is the rule of no nudity) -- if anyone plans on going alone, they usually end up bullied by the actors dressed up as scary monsters. Most teachers and students set up baskets of candy by their office, classroom, or dormitory door for other people to pick at during the week preceding the 31st, and it's not uncommon to find pirates, zombies, French maids, princesses, and other odd characters swaggering around campus during that week.

RELIGIONS DAY. One of the various days the school created to teach tolerance and broaden students' understanding of other lifestyles. The point of the day isn't to teach what is right and what is wrong, but simply to inform the student body about religions that they might not know very much about or that they might have been misinformed about through any variety of sources. Students are also invited and encouraged to form groups and give presentations covering their religion; the only thing that the school requires is that they don't disrespect or badmouth any other religions while they're doing it, and any student caught making rude noises or insulting another religion in the presentation room will find themselves in the Dean of Discipline's office before they have the opportunity to come up with an excuse for their behavior.

SADIE HAWKINS DAY. Although it isn't something that the school always celebrated, not by any means, over time a tradition has emerged -- mainly when, during one school dance in 1951, the student government decided that for that particular dance, the girls had to ask the boys rather than visa versa. The following year, the students decided they wanted to reinvent that particular dance and, as it was featured in November, people started calling it a "Sadie Hawkins Dance", and it was scheduled to take place on the Saturday after the ninth of November -- on Sadie Hawkins Day. Over the past twenty years, the dance changed, because not only heterosexual couples attended, but also homosexual ones -- although the gay and lesbian couples have been known to play with the tradition, with one boy putting on a wig or a girl taping her hair back in a cap and wearing boys' clothes. Today, it has evolved even more, with the homosexual couples adding even more flair to it (and some of the heterosexual couples followed suit). Basically, it has started earning the fond nickname "The Crossdressing Dance" as well as all of the other nicknames associated with Sadie Hawkins Dances. A recent trend that has only shown up in the past couple of years is that anyone who intends to crossdress at the dance does so from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep -- which means there have been more than a few boys walking around in girls skirts and girls walking around in boys' clothes all day long.

HOMECOMING WEEK. Takes place during the school week before the Homecoming football game; the school hosts several activities that the entire student body can participate in and is always a competition between the classes (for the past two years, the Seniors have won; will it turn out the same this year?). A variety of dress-up days, pie-eating contests, tug-of-war, lei sales, penny wars, and skits. Another tradition during Homecoming Week is the Ice Cream Social, an afternoon event that is held outside in which students are allowed to mingle and eat free ice cream -- what's better? During Homecoming Week, the Homecoming Court is nominated and voted for, and the results are announced during the half-time intermission.

HOMECOMING DANCE. Held after one of the home football games and at the end of Homecoming Week, the homecoming dance is the biggest dance of the school year other than Prom and the Valentine's Day Dance.

THANKSGIVING. The one thing that students tend to remember most about Thanksgiving at Lucian Academy is the amazing feast the kitchen staff creates for the residents of the school to eat -- there is never any shortage of turkey, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes and marshmallows, dumplings, pumpkin pie, and all the other kinds of foods that are normally associated with the fall holiday. Although some students choose to go home over the three days they are given off from school, a great majority of them decide to simply stay. Another interesting tradition during Thanksgiving is the turkey costume -- on Thursday, a student dresses up in it and runs around the school and is usually followed by students poking it with fake arrows or sticks and saying silly things like "Wait, come back, we only want to eat you!" Unsurprisingly, several students get quite a kick out of all the jokes that spring up, as well as the chase that, if the designated turkey is fast enough, can manage to keep going for quite a while.

CHRISTMAS. Because so many students elect to stay on campus during the winter holidays, the administration plan many different types of activities that can keep them all busy. First comes the Dormitory Decorating Day which is held on the very first day of the winter holidays and during which students are allowed to raid the school's supply of Christmas decorations if they don't have enough of their own, most of which was donated by previous students who attended the school, which usually leads to some interesting, and sometimes dated, discoveries. Even the students who have already searched through it three times still find new things when looking through the massive Christmas decorations room. Other events typically planned include cookie making and ornament decorating workshops and several days of silly, fun Christmas games, some of which include the Christmas Tree Wrap (where people decorate a "human Christmas tree"), Funny Christmas List (one person makes a funny Christmas list for the person to his or her left), Never Did That (each person starts out with a stack of candy canes, and each person says something they have never done, both good and bad things, and anyone who has done it has to give up a candy cane), Unwrap the Prize (like musical chairs, only with the contestants opening a layer of wrapping paper on a present every time the music stops), and dirty Christmas (where everyone brings in an inexpensive gift and people get to steal presents from each other!). There is also a Christmas concert and a Winter Formal (the big dance of the holidays) that students can attend...all while, of course, trying to avoid the numerous twigs of mistletoe that have been hung all over the school by a variety of students (and teachers, although none of them admit to it).

SECRET SANTA, INC. One of the big club-sponsored events during the winter holidays, Secret Santa, Inc. is undertaken every year by the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Students of Color Club; they gather the names of all students who are interested in playing and then go around and have everyone pick a name of a student (which also includes basic stats like age, grade, and clubs involved in) from a Christmas stocking to buy a present for. After the students buy their presents, they return them to the classroom that has been designated as the Secret Santa headquarters to be sorted by the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Students of Color Club (who can also take part in the event, with a little careful planning), who then dress in Santa's Elves costumes and deliver them to their recipients on Christmas Eve.

THE ANGEL PROJECT. Another event that is popular during the winter holidays is the Angel Project, in which the Community Service club plan and coordinate a visit by several groups of students to a variety of hospitals in the area -- the students sometimes go dressed up as Elves or Santa and Mrs. Claus, but they always bring little gifts, Christmas cards, and are prepared to sing a variety of carols for the people they see. A surprisingly large number of the student body turns out for the day, considering the community service club isn't one of the more popular clubs, but the administration always choked it up to the spirit of the Christmas holidays and maybe a bit of boredom.

NEW YEAR'S. More of a continuation of the winter holiday celebrations, New Year's at Lucian Academy includes a dance up until thirty minutes before the new year, at which point all (or most, anyway) of the students are marched to one of the far fields to witness a special display of fireworks and a countdown to the new year.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD DAY. Held at the end of January, International Food Day (IFD) is a day for students to share the foods of their homeland -- frequently, the language teachers either require participation in this event or offer extra credit for the students who do. Students are required to sign up at least a week before the event is held and are encouraged to work in pairs or teams to make enough for the rest of the school to sample (everything in the kitchen is theirs to use, and if they provide a list of what they will need that isn't stocked in the kitchen, the Coordinator for the International Food Day will try to make sure that the students get what they need. During the couple of days preceding the IFD, the kitchen staff is more often than not heard grumbling about the various students rumbling around in the kitchens and the messes they invariably make. The entire student body and employees of Lucian Academy are invited to the dinner feast, although some of the dishes are more samplers than actual plates (those being the ones the students make, as there are never enough to go around), but the kitchen staff also participates, making a variety dishes to be eaten as a full meal. For those who aren't interested in trying out the international foods, the kitchen staff also makes a normal dinner.

VALENTINE'S. At Lucian, Valentine's Day is actually set in motion up to two weeks before February 14, when an effort by the Dance Club results in the majority of the student body buying a rose, chocolates, teddy bear, or some other gift for a friend, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a crush, or themselves. Some people have been known to buy a bouquet of roses as a gag gift, signing the accompanying cards in gooey, gag-worthily romantic sentiments. On Valentine's Day, various members of the Dance Club dress up as Cupids and skip through the halls, delivering roses and chocolates and stuffed animals to the lucky (and sometimes unfortunate) people who had received them (if February 14 falls on a weekday, dance club members are actually excused from their classes -- they are still required to turn in any assignments at the beginning of the day, do any work that might be assigned, and get the notes from a fellow student). In the end, all of the proceeds are split in half and go to fund future events, pay for entrance fees to dance competitions, and help buy new uniforms. After dinner, a dance is held for all students who wish to attend in the dining hall (unfortunately, students have to wait an hour for all of the tables to be cleared out -- but sometimes girls -- and boys -- can take longer than that to get ready after dinner). Almost all of the attendees are in couples, but that doesn't stop students from going stag. Because it's inevitable that a student would spike the punch or someone would get into a fight or couples would get too intimate, faculty are required to stand in during the dance, but they tend to be more lenient on the couples and tend to overlook the ones who might be making out in a corner -- as long as it doesn't get too hot and heavy. And, of course, girls aren't allowed to go back to boys' dorms after the dance and visa versa. Not that that stops things from happening, but if they don't know it's happening, they can't stop it, can they?

FAMILY WEEK. Some students refer to it as "chill week" because the teachers tend to take it easier on the students, considering the majority of their parents or guardians (and sometimes siblings) fly or drive in for the week to watch them in action in class, meet with their teachers, and spend some time with them. Although there are the occasional students who dread it more than the actual school (usually the ones whose grades aren't quite what their parents would like for them to be), the majority of them look forward to Family Week. While some families choose not to stay the entire week (lodging isn't provided for them, after all, and they might have to return to work after a few days), every weekday has at least one fun event planned and the entirety of Saturday and Sunday are devoted to making the parents enjoy their visit. Mainly, that includes making plenty of opportunity for the parents to meet their son or daughter's friends and teachers, including the Formal Dinner on Saturday and the Picnic Social on Sunday.

PROM. The most looked-forward to event of the school year other than Graduation for Seniors, Prom is a night that is held exclusively for the Senior class by the Juniors. Only Juniors, Seniors, and their dates are allowed to attend the dance that could probably be called a ball. Despite their complaints that it's unfair, the only way a Freshman or Sophomore can attend Prom is by being the date of a Junior or Senior (and there have been several instances where a couple will take a younger couple as their "dates" and then pair off after they've arrived), although there have been a few very rare cases of one or two sneaking in. Prom is almost always held off-campus, usually at either a nice hotel or another meeting place that has several rooms large enough to accommodate the amount of students attending. Prom always has a theme, although people don't necessarily always dress for it, and a King and Queen are always voted on and announced during the night's events. Dinner isn't hosted by the Prom committee, so most students and their dates choose to go to dinner before prom (there are several nice restaurants that have a good relationship with Lucian Academy students and offer discounts on Prom night), and although it's something the school tries to prevent, there aren't any small amount of students who rent hotel rooms for that night.

POWDERPUFF FOOTBALL. Nothing unheard of in the world of high school, the powderpuff football games are held in the spring of every year and feature girls tackling the roles of football players and boys as cheerleaders (yes, Lucian tradition does dictate the boys wear the skirts, too, although some chicken out and wear the boys' cheerleading outfit). At the beginning of March, all interested students sign up and indicate what position they would like (if girls) and two weeks later everyone is separated into teams (boys included). The powderpuff players and cheerleaders are given two weeks to practice and prepare for their football tournament, during which classes are cancelled and all students are called outside to the football stadium to enjoy the show, cheer on their favorite team, and laugh at the male cheerleaders' antics.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY. The St. Patrick's Day activities are a result of a joint effort on the part of the physical education teachers and the coaches of Lucian Academy. Without them, the day would be celebrated normally, with the more cheeky students wearing "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!" pins and everyone who doesn't want to get pinched wearing something green. In the wee hours of the morning, every student who can pull him and herself out of bed is placed at the beginning of an elaborate treasure hunt that sometimes lasts into the morning classes (all students who are late are, of course, excused). Each student is given a beginning clue and, depending on how they interpret the clue, they are led to either a fake or real clue -- there are so many of both placed all over the campus that some people joke it's surprising some students don't end up roaming around until it's time for dinner. Because of how challenging the course can sometimes be (when the team of teachers get too enthusiastic about the hunt), some students simply forego the event altogether and covet the few hours of sleep they get while other students are sluggishly wading their way through the series of clues. There is no one right way to get to the pot of gold at the end of the hunt. After it has been found, the teachers end up spending their time tracking down the students who are still wandering around trying to find the location of the treasure while the winner gets the moment to gloat -- because not only does he or she have a rather useless trophy to display in his or her dorm room, but because the real prize for winning is the certificate that proclaims the winner of the treasure hunt has one free day to take off from classes -- any day he or she wants, as long as it's not during finals (and, of course, the student is expected to make-up any other missed exams or assignments).

CULTURE DAY.The spring semester's version of the Religions Day, Culture Day was created to promote tolerance, harmony, and understanding within the student body. Only instead of teaching about religions, it raises awareness about a broader range of different lifestyles in different countries -- and even within the United States. Typically, students gather in the auditorium to hear guest speakers give presentations and talk and then go to the dining hall to view mini-presentations put together by the other students. Finally, the event ends with a movie (usually something along the lines of a documentary -- once or twice it has been a film recorded by a graduate of Lucian Academy). All of the rules for Religions Day applies to Culture Day as well -- no harassing of other students and no disruptions or rude, discriminative behavior. Anyone caught breaking the rules will be sent to the Dean of Discipline's office, who is more than capable of dishing out befitting punishments.

SPIRIT DAY. A somewhat odd tradition perhaps, for a school, whose origins have many different explanations (the teachers and administration claim that they did it to promote interaction between themselves and the students, while the students say it was because a teacher and a student were having an argument over an assignment and they decided to settle it like men -- by which point the entire school was involved), Spirit Day is the only day when competition between students and faculty is openly encouraged. For the one day, classes are canceled and many different activities are held, from archery competitions to painting contests to dance-offs. The most famous result of Spirit Day is the deciding of the school mascot, which the students wanted to decide, but the administration wouldn't allow them to. The students issued a wager that whoever won the Spirit Day for that year (1901, the previous years the mascot had been a pegasus, but many animals and students had contested that it was too similar to a horse, which led to their deciding to, by popular vote, change it) had the final say in the subject -- and the administration agreed. In the end, the students won, and the mascot was changed to the Punisher rather than the Cavalier, which had been the administration's choice.

APRIL FOOL'S. Aside from the typical pranks and jokes that tend to get tossed around on an individual basis, there are several school-wide events that go on during the day. Students are constantly on their toes because they never know which teacher or administration worker is going to prank them. The biggest pranks, though, are the ones that are done by each class -- the Seniors prank the Freshmen, the Freshmen prank the Sophomores, the Sophomores prank the Juniors, and the Juniors prank the Seniors -- usually, the Freshmen get pranked the worst. The kitchen staff are also known to celebrate April Fool's by creating all kinds of food pranks, of which the students and faculty alike have to try to sort through what is what it looks like and what isn't (for instance, spaghetti and meatballs or a chicken pot pie that turns out to really be some sweet confection and cupcakes that turn out to be made of meat and mashed potatoes rather than cake and icing). Regardless of who's doing the pranking, the first of April doesn't end at Lucian Academy without a lot of people being tricked, pranks being foiled, and general laughter and high spirits floating about campus.

SENIOR TRIP. Planned and coordinated in its entirety by the Senior Class Officers and funded by a combination of the money that the senior class saved during their four years at school, donations from the community, and students paying themselves (usually not much of the latter, but it mainly depends on how much money they managed to raise over the years), the senior trip usually takes place over spring break. The length of the senior trip varies depending on how much money they have to put into it and what the class as a whole wants to do. Some senior classes go on week-long trips (with parental consent and a couple of faculty members present, of course) to another part of the country, some go on a cruise, and others stay closer to Lucian and plan to spend their money attending concerts and other local events. Essentially every senior class has a senior trip, though, and it's usually more of a reflection of what the students prefer to do than money or time restrictions.

GRADUATION. Mainly self-explanatory, graduation is easily one of the biggest events to take place during the school year, and is something that is being prepared for since day one of the new school year. The events that lead up to and end graduation at Lucian Academy are basically the same as any school's: the seniors take their final exams a week earlier than the rest of the students and have several "free days" before being required to return to practice the ceremony. A special dinner is prepared for the seniors the night before graduation, which they attend with the headmistress (and usually the rest of the faculty and administration). The graduation ceremony itself is held outside (providing the weather doesn't turn sour, but they always make arrangements in case rain is forecasted for an indoor ceremony), and usually, the entire student body shows up to support their seniors. After graduation, students tend to branch off with their families for a little celebration before hitting the parties -- usually which are held by fellow classmates and include lots of illegal celebrations with alcoholic beverages.

CLASS REUNIONS. Another event that is coordinated entirely by the class Government is the class reunion, which occurs after five, ten, and so on years have passed since graduation. Class reunions usually take place during the summer months, when the campus isn't quite so busy as it is during the school year. Class reunions typically involve a party, dinner, and maybe even a band -- as well as presentations of the class's history: pictures from the four years they spent at Lucian, and then new pictures (if any were submitted by the alumni attending).