Snowcoming: winter wonderland or meltdown?

Sophomores+Samantha+Brescia+and+Caroline+Lyman+get+ready+for+the+annual+winter+dance%2C+which+took+place+on+Feb.+4.+

Katie Courtney

Sophomores Samantha Brescia and Caroline Lyman get ready for the annual winter dance, which took place on Feb. 4.

The Winter Dance, an annual tradition that has been occurring for many years, took place on Feb. 4, where students and their dates danced and skated under the gleaming lights and high strung balloons in the school’s field house.

This year’s theme of the dance was Snowcoming. “I thought the theme was very good, and the decorations were actually really cute,” said Sara Villanueva, junior. When students entered they were given a glow-in-the-dark band before they could ice skate or dance to the DJ’s songs.

Varsity club, an in-school club, helps arrange many school sponsored events including the dances. They help organize the dance itself including the theme, decorations, fundraisers, and dress days.  

“For Varsity Club, we probably had about five meetings, so including board activities and decoration it probably would add up to about 30 hours,” said Kathryn Hodakowski, Varsity Club co-president.

The dance itself was seen as quite successful and brought out a good amount of students. One of the main attractions being the ice skating rink didn’t stop many students from dancing to the various genres the DJ chose.

“One of the things we really liked about the dance this year was that it was connected to pack the place week, which it normally isn’t,” said Mrs. Jill Tylk, Varsity Club sponsor.  With the dance being connected to the Lyons Township game, more people were looking forward to the weekend and all the events leading up to it.

The Winter Dance has always been seen from a much different light than Homecoming. Although they are both dances in the same location planned by the same club, the differences between the two are vast. “For this dance we only sold about 450 tickets, yet for homecoming we sell about 2,000,” Hodakowski said.

Although not a large amount of students attend the dance, various students still desire to go year after year.

“What makes [the winter dance] more fun is the people that go to the dance actually enjoy dancing and want to be there, which makes the atmosphere more connected,” Hodakowski said.

As of now, the annual Winter Dance for upcoming years will have more attention put towards it by Varsity Club, focusing on what will bring in more students. With only three weeks to plan Snowcoming, little time was was given for advertising and planning, but overall the dance was seen as a success by many.