The Walpole High School cafeteria was filled with festive snowflakes, white lights, and blue balloons to create a Winter Wonderland-esque dance floor for students that attended the First Winter Ball on Friday, January 13. Students followed the Winter Wonderland theme by wearing semi-formal attire in gold, silver, black, white or a combination of the four (with the exception of the few rebellious students in red).
The event was successful and broke even the Student Council’s expenses. About 220 students attended the dance, most of them giving positive feedback about the dance. Student Council advisor, Ms. Kerry McMenimen, was impressed by the results of the dance. “It exceded our expectations and everybody who went had a great time,” she said.
Student Council spent the entire afternoon of the dance decorating the cafeteria and the foreign language hall in preparation for the festivities. Ms. McMenimen said, “I think the Student Council worked hard to create a festive and fun atmosphere. The fun was contagious upon entering.” The expenses for the decorations were higher this year than they will be in future years because the Student Council did not own any decorations from past years, but the successful ticket sales made up for the costs in the end. The tickets were sold for $20 at lunch, $15 if students buy tickets in a group of five, and $10 with privilege cards. Originally, the ticket prices were supposed to be $30 at the door to encourage students to buy tickets before hand, but there was a last-minute date change so the Student Council decided to keep the ticket prices consistent with the lunch sales at the door.
Initially scheduled for January 14, the dance faced many scheduling problems, including time conflicts with the high school hockey game and an important Patriots game. Student Council decided to change the date to January 13 so more students would attend the event. Even so, the dance conflicted with the high school Basketball game. Senior basketball captain Tim Conley was one of the players who had to come late to the dance because of his game, but he said, “If I had the chance, I’d come late again,” demonstrating that the portion of the dance he did make was worth it. The students were constantly dancing throughout the night, and the end of the night was just as exciting as the beginning, which pleased the basketball players that chose to come late.
The students enjoyed the musical entertainment provided by DJ Romeo and his two co-workers, who played hit pop songs from the radio that were fun and easy to dance to. Mrs. Jane Andonian donated light-up bracelets, necklaces, and rings for the students to dance with, which some students say still light up in their rooms. She also lent a strobe light to help create visual appeal with the musical beat for the students on the dancefloor. Flowers and More, a local flower shop, also donated six flower bouquets for the student-voted two princess runner-ups, the princess, two prince runner-ups, and the prince. The runner-ups included sophomore Meg Driscoll, junior Maddy Shea, sophomore Harrison Berkland and senior Cam Benoit. The 2012 Winter Ball Princess and Prince were Senior Jacqueline Reilly and junior Ray Mortali.
A dance other than the Prom has been well-anticipated by WHS students, and finally, this year a sucessful dance was held. Although not as well-participated in, not as fancy, and not as expensive, the Winter Ball provided an enjoyable environment for students to spend the night dancing with their friends. The 2012 Winter Ball was a great success, and will be continued in future years by the Student Council. Ms. McMenimen said, “I’m excited to bring this tradition to Walpole High,” and the students are excited to attend.
