The annual winter formal dance will take place on Jan. 12 at Villa Ragusa, fostering anticipation throughout campus for the event. The dance, open to all grade levels, will offer free drinks and host a DJ, leadership adviser Jessica Kirby said. Working behind the scenes, ASB is preparing the dance in a multitude of ways, Kirby added.
A key difference between ASB’s preparation for the upcoming winter formal and those from previous years is that all classes are more involved this year. In previous years, the winter formal dance served as a fundraiser primarily for juniors and seniors, Kirby said.
However, this year’s planning centers around providing a welcoming environment for students of all grades, not just upperclassmen. The whole leadership class is broken up into separate committees, such as a budget and fundraising, decorations, marketing and feedback and evaluation committee, Kirby said.
Junior class cabinet officer Steven Heller said he hopes the winter formal dance will mimic the successful turnout of the 2023 Homecoming dance.
“We tried to keep the prices [for winter formal tickets] low and keep it more equitable and inclusive for people to be able to come,” Heller said. “We’re hoping we can have a great environment with a lot of people who are happy to be there. I hope people can have a good social experience with the community.”
After a break from social gatherings due to COVID-19, the students are looking forward to the winter formal dance, junior Ellia Kim said.
“I have never been to [the] winter formal [dance] before, so I’m really excited,” Kim said. “It would be nice to go with my friends. I heard that we might have a photo booth for our dance so I think it’s cool that we included one as well. It’s also nice to have food especially because we’re paying for the dance.”
Junior Sara Hreya Murali said she hopes the dance next year will be more fun than last year’s.
“Because last year’s dance was a year after COVID-19, I hope next year’s winter formal will be even better,” Murali said. “I’m looking forward to spending good quality time with my friends.”
ASB has decided to increase ticket sales weekly. Tickets start at $45 for students with ASB, $50 for students without, and $60 for guests, but will increase to $55 for students with ASB and $65 for guests after the first week of sales, Kirby said.
While keeping prices reasonably low helps overall ticket sales, ASB hopes that the raised ticket prices of winter formal can help motivate students to buy ASB cards, Kirby said.
“Our goal was [to look] at what point someone would potentially buy an ASB card if they were unwilling to pay the [full ticket] price,” Kirby said. “It might make a difference [if they think], I’ll just buy the ASB card [instead]. We balanced it out because we don’t just make a decision. It’s all interconnected.”
Wang said leadership is putting a lot of effort into winter formal this year to make it a memorable event for students of all grades.
“I hope that winter formal can [become] another big school dance that students enjoy,” Wang said. “I hope it lives up to [students] expectations.”
