WOODSIDE, CA- Woodside High School is set to put on its Winter Formal dance, hoping to rekindle student interest in the event after a disappointing turnout last year.
The Winter Formal dance, a staple of school-wide social gatherings in previous years, upended a trend of increased attendance at school dances last year when most of the student body snubbed the event. Staff and students widely believe that the student body’s lack of interest was largely due to the fact that the dance was scheduled in early December, shortly after the Homecoming dance.
“Not a lot of people went,” Karina Bridgeman, a senior who attended the dance last year, admitted. “Once a few people said that they weren’t going, it kind of backfired over everybody.”
This year, the student leadership Winter Dance committee, the sophomore class, and the Board of Student Affairs are working hard to revive the event to win back the trust of the students and recreate the excitement that once surrounded the dance. However, for the sophomore class, there is much more than an exciting dance at stake.
Adrienne Evans, the sophomore class president, comments, “I definitely had my reservations. When I ran for sophomore class president, I had in mind that I really wanted to change and improve upon the dance from last year, especially because I know how important it is to our class funds.”
The Winter Formal has historically been a major fundraiser for the sophomore class, and budget reports show that the failure of last year’s formal delivered a significant blow to the Class of 2019’s finances. Organizers are working hard to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself, beginning with one simple change.
“The main difference this year is that it’s [in the] second semester,” Raquel Krampert, the senior in charge of the Winter Dance committee, told The Paw Print. “Last year, we had homecoming and formal both in the first semester and a lot of people didn’t want to pay for two tickets so close together.”
Krampert recognizes that, while a change in the date will help improve student turnout, the committee has to make other changes if it hopes to organize a truly memorable event and reinvigorate students’ interest in formal. To do this, she and her group of student organizers turned to the input received from the student body following last year’s dance.
“We also have a new DJ [and] we’re getting Ms. Kilty and the foods class to make some appetizers, so hopefully the food will be better,” Krampert added. “I think we have a lot more different types of advertisements on the announcements and I think we did start doing that earlier.”
News of the changes to the dance’s design have already spread throughout the student body.
When asked whether there was anything she looked forward to about the upcoming dance, Bridgeman exclaimed, without hesitation, “I’m excited for Ms. Kilty’s food!”
Excitement like this has the students of the Winter Formal committee and the Class of 2020 optimistic about about a rebound in student attendance, and over 200 ticket sales in the first two days point towards a much more successful dance than that of the previous year.
“I think that there are a lot more people excited for it— more than last year,” Krampert observed. “There’s been a lot more talk about it, so I think there’s going to be a better outcome.”
In the end, the students who came together to revive the dance know that the success of the event, which is planned for February 10th and themed “New York, New York,” rests on their shoulders. So far, the hard work of their peers has given them reason for encouragement.
Evans explains, “I definitely was a little nervous at first, but, with the people that we have in the leadership class and my class officers, I feel like, this year, we can definitely make it a success.”
