Discoballs. Video projectors. Themed music. Despite the big hype and rumors swirling around in anticipation of the winter dance, the event consisted of none of these factors on Friday, February 21, 2014.
Yet, frankly enough, many students and staff were pleased with the turnout of Pattonville’s first winter dance since 2009. Following a prolonged annual production of Mr. PHS, students were not allowed to stay at the Student Council planned event past 10 p.m. due to school event guidelines.
“The biggest complaint about the dance was time,” said STUCO sponsor Heather Lopez- Johnston. “It was kind of a weird starting point for us, but students still came after the show.”
Tickets were originally sold for $5 during all lunches from Feb. 3-7 and extended until the following Tuesday, Feb. 11, to increase overall sales. STUCO had projected about to sell about 200 tickets in order for the dance to be possible, partly due to how the profit was invested.
Aside from basic payments, Lopez-Johnston noted that the money transfers to “Special Olympics” and “a fund that STUCO has started to help families in the community,” otherwise known as Pattonville Care. These are various attempts throughout the year made by the group to serve close organizations.
While difficulties with timing and financial planning may have been evident prior to the dance, certain STUCO representatives considered the dance to be a success. Senior Nathan Samples particularly enjoyed how the event was structured “like a homecoming dance, just with a smaller crowd” and believes that it will open up more to students in upcoming years.
“I think the dance was successful to the point that we can hold another one,” Lopez-Johnston mentioned. “Administration has already said we can have another one [next year] that can be separate from Mr. PHS.”
Seeking room for improvement, STUCO would like to make a few alterations for a potential winter dance in following years. In order to reach out to a larger portion of the student body, students may be allowed to choose from themes such as Barn-style or decades settings.
“If we can get the event separate from Mr. PHS and theme based, I think [the dance] will be even more successful next year,” Lopez-Johnston said. “It was probably the easiest and most well-behaved dance we’ve had at Pattonville in a while.”
