The Draft Gym is known as a place to watch friends in basketball games or to take part in one of Parker’s many PE classes. All of that changed on the night of January 18. Instead of there being gym shoes and sweatpants, there were heels and loafers, suits, dresses, people dancing, and upbeat music. All of that was thanks to this year’s Social Committee heads for planning the Winter Formal.
For years, Parker students wanted another dance to socialize with their friends, and this year’s Social Committee delivered just that. The committee is led by seniors Monet VanVooren, Ethan Dennis, Massimo Franco, Franny Adami, and Hanna Bilgin. They call themselves BFAMED. They have been tasked with organizing many Parker social traditions like Homecoming and Prom, and they wanted to add a new event.
With Homecoming at the beginning of the year and Prom at the end, the heads wanted to add a new event in the middle as a fun pick-me-up and celebration for everyone at the end of finals. “We kind of wanted to add something that was kind of a reward to everybody after finals,” Dennis said. “There have also been talks about adding it for a few years, but it never came to fruition. So we thought, why not?”
Upper School Coordinator and Social Committee’s co-faculty advisor, Rolanda Shepard, has seen past years of social heads discuss and not follow through with a Winter Formal. “This year’s Social Committee ran on it, and it was on their platform,” Shepard said. She emphasized the group’s willingness to put in the work on this new project. “The biggest thing that we had to make sure was that we had enough chaperones there, and that was a lot of the initial work.”
Winter is a busy time for seniors like the Social Committee heads, With first semester coming to a close and college application deadlines looming. With all of that happening, the committee planned a new event for the entire Upper School.
According to the heads, the event was difficult to make happen. “It was a lot of meetings with our faculty advisor, Ms. Shepard,” Dennis said. They also met with Head of Upper School, Cory Zeller, and Upper School Dean of Student Life, Joe Bruno.
Another factor of the preparation was considering the atmosphere and ordering decorations. The Social heads wanted to make it a little fancier than Homecoming and other events, which is why they increased the price to $25 instead of $20, which is the price of Homecoming. “We wanted it to be a little fancier with more amenities, so that’s why we set that price,” Shepard said. With the extra money, they had things like a DJ, a photo booth, and nicer food.
It’s up to the next year’s Social Committee heads to continue on with the tradition of the Winter Formal dance. “We wanted everybody to have some fun going into the next semester,” Dennis said. “The DJ was lit,” sophomore Coco De Leon said. “I hope that we can have a fun event like this next year.”
