By Parvi Anand
For the first time, Lovett students gathered in Wallace Gym on Saturday, February 21st, for a Winterfest dance, turning the space into a “Winter Wonderland” with music, cotton candy, and a photo booth. The dance was organized by the Sophomore SGA as a new way to bring students together during Winterfest week.
Sophomore SGA president Jacob Ying said the idea came from wanting to try something new for the school.
“We wanted to do something different for Winterfest week that brings the school together,” Ying said. “We knew that people wanted and have wanted a homecoming dance, so we figured it would be fun for a lot of them.”
Planning the dance took time and effort. According to Ying, the Sophomore SGA spent about two months preparing for the event and met one to two times each week to organize everything.
One of the biggest challenges was finding vendors while staying within the budget.
“For example, we wanted to get an ice sculpture, but that ended up being too expensive,” he said. “It also took a long time to hammer out all the details with the band.”
The theme for the event, Winter Wonderland, came naturally because the dance was taking place during Winterfest week in February.
On the day of the dance, SGA members arrived at school early to help set everything up. While the maintenance team helped set up the gym floor and tables, students handled many of the decorations themselves.
“We also had to blow up balloons on our own and we had to get Chick-fil-A on our own,” he said. “Overall it wasn’t too bad though.”
Throughout the night, about 100 students came to the dance. Some students stayed the entire time, while others stopped by for only part of the evening.
Ying said they had anticipated that number. “We would’ve really liked more people to come,” he said, “but that’s about the amount that showed up.”
Highlights of the event included the cotton candy machine and the photo booth. Some students enjoyed dancing and spending time with friends, while others mainly sat at tables and talked.
Ying also noticed that many of the students who attended were freshmen, which may have affected how comfortable people felt dancing.
“A lot of people that went told me that it would’ve been more fun if more people had come because it was a well-done event,” he said.
Winterfest week has been a Lovett tradition for many years, usually ending with the student–faculty basketball game. While the future of the dance is still uncertain, Ying said the idea could evolve.
“I think that in the future, the dance itself may or may not happen, but it may be shifted to an actual homecoming dance, which would hopefully make it more popular,” Ying said.
Even though planning the event was sometimes stressful, Ying said the experience was worth it.
“Planning this event taught me a lot of things,” he said. “It can be stressful, but it’s also very fun and rewarding to plan something and execute it and see it in action.”
The first Winterfest dance introduced a new type of event at Lovett and showed how students can help create new traditions for the school community.
Based on what I heard from freshman Dylan Cannon about her experience, they’re on their way. “The band was really fun, it was live,” she said. Another highlight: “being with friends.”
