Woodside’s sophomore class might suffer financially due to the lack of enthusiasm for this year’s winter formal.
This year’s winter formal seemed like it was doomed to fail from the start ‒ everyone, even the people involved, expected it to be cancelled. But in the days before, ticket sales increased and the dance remained on schedule.
Just a fraction of normal school dance numbers showed up, and the few that did go stayed for no more than half an hour. As junior Bruce Kubika put it, “The DJ got his 15 minutes of fame, but only because no one stayed for longer than 15 minutes.”
Unfortunately for the sophomores, this could mean trouble in a few years. The revenue from this dance is supposed to go towards their prom, and it made a lot less money than expected.
“This should’ve been a big source for them so they’re gonna have to look for alternatives,” said Charles Velschow, a leadership teacher, to the Woodside World. “It just raises the price of their prom and puts them in a position where they have to raise more money for the rest of the year.”
The dance was almost cancelled ‒ the committee barely met the minimum number of ticket sales, 250, a few days before the event.
Senior class vice-president Kaelie Brodie, who was in charge of the dance, blames the low turnout on the scheduling. “It was a combination of the fact that it was very close to homecoming and very close to finals”, she explained to the Woodside World. “We had no control over [the date] as a committee or as a leadership class ‒ admin chooses the date.”
Last year, the winter formal took place in mid-February, and resulted in a much bigger crowd and higher profits for last year’s sophomores. But instead of continuing that trend, the administration decided to have it in the first semester.
“There was an overload of events that took place last February,” said Velschow. “They were trying to spread things around a little bit more.”
Unfortunately for the sophomores, this led to an unusually low number of ticket sales for a school dance. Hopefully, the sophomore class can make up for this loss and still be able to put together a great prom.
“Their prom might not be what they want it to be,” said Brodie. “There were just some factors that were out of our control.”
