Each year, Wilsonville High School hosts three dances. Set up by a variety of teachers, volunteers, and students alike, excitement awaits for each of these events. Kicking off the new year of 2025, Winter Formal was a wonderful and fun way for students to socialize outside of the classroom.
For good or for bad, Winter Formal 2025 reflected Oregon’s snowfall this season – lacking in presence. With the Wilsonville Bookkeeper Wendy Stoneking reporting the sale of 225 tickets, School Safety and Enforcement Specialist Marcus Washington– who attended the dance as a chaperone- estimated he only saw about 150 students actually show up to the dance.
Many helping hands were required to put on Winter Formal, just as in the past. This year, setting up for the students attending were a variety of student volunteers as well. Showing up the Friday before the dance, National Honors Society members worked from 4:00pm to 10:30pm.
Student volunteer Hayden Fish signed up through NHS to help set up the dance. A wonderful way to earn volunteer hours for the club, he decided this was a wonderful opportunity for him to help out with.
Fish explains, “I’ve set up other events in Wilsonville, but never a school dance.” Fish also notes how the setup was majority student-led; “We all showed up and another student told us where to work. I helped make the snowflakes.”
Luckily, there were no issues setting up, and the process was all “smooth sailing,” as explained by Fish.
By the start of the dance at 7:30, the line into Wilsonville’s Performing Arts Center grew, running down the sidewalk of the school. Despite the cold weather dropping to around 36 degrees, dresses and polos were worn in great abundance, and everyone waited to get inside and dance.
While lines were not as long as usual, and attendance was significantly lower than usual, students still had a wonderful time. Chloe Elbitar- a freshman at her first Winter Formal, explained how she got ready with a few of her friends after an early morning wrestling tournament.
“I had more fun at Winter Formal than I did at homecoming. I think this mainly came from the fact that I had more friends with me, and they had better music. I would definitely love to go again next time.” Elbitar said.
Suggestions for the DJ – as always – varied tremendously. Fisher also attended the dance; however, he disagreed with Elbitar’s remarks about the music, stating, “We were only there for about thirty-forty minutes. I thought the music was pretty bad, even though you could recommend songs.”
Elbitar only suggested that a list be made before the dance, where students can recommend music so that a playlist can be made in advance.
Teacher chaperone Christian Canales – who has chaperoned several other Winter Formals and proms with great excitement – loved both the music and the small group of attendees. He explains, “There was no pushing, no throwing of water, and kids were very respectful. As a chaperone, I felt good that there were less people to control.”
“I think everyone still had a great time, and I thought it was amazing that the DJ let students recommend music. Personally, I would be playing reggae and surfing music though.”
Overall, students and chaperones agreed that advertising is valuable for future dances. People reached a consensus that the very low attendance at the dance was due to a lack of advertising for the event.
Canales mentioned how “promoting the dance was the biggest factor. It was talked about before winter break, then right after we had finals, so it wasn’t very obvious to hear about.”
Fish concurred, “There weren’t very many people there, but the few people that were there were super energetic. There needs to be more advertising for the dance.”
Winter Formal has always lived in the shadow of homecoming, but no matter what there are still always experiences to be had at this exciting dance. With a group of friends and some energy, a dwindling crowd or an arguably good DJ cannot ruin any wonderful night.