Students walked down a “red carpet”—really a long sheet of paper taped to the floor—leading to the Draft Gym’s doorway, which was embellished with fairy lights. Inside, near center court, around 20 upper schoolers dance to loud pop music playing over the speakers. Complete with colored lights, a poster backdrop for photos, and Portuguese chicken from Nando Peri-Peri’s, the “Met-Gala”-themed Winter Ball, organized by Students United Committee, took place in this way on the night of Friday, February 2.

“We wanted to plan something where people could take a break from school and have a lot of fun,” Annette Njei, a junior and second-year head of Students United, said. “The overarching goal of the committee is to bring the entire student body together through integrating the grades and people of different races, genders, and cultures. I think that having a school dance allows students from all the grades to interact with others in a comfortable environment.” At the dance, students from all four grades were present.

Sophomore Celeste Gerbaulet attended the Ball, wanting to have fun while supporting her friends on the Committee. “The lights were off, so that was a plus,” she said, smiling. “I had a great time at the dance, and they did a really nice job with putting it all together—the songs, the red carpet, the streamers—but unfortunately, not a ton of people were there.”

“I don’t think it’s Students United’s fault as to why the dance might not have been super crowded,” sophomore Joryin Pender said. “The Parker community doesn’t really seem like a ‘ball’ type of place. Just think of homecoming—people don’t dress super fancy, and leaving early is typical, so it’s not a huge deal, and I could understand that people wouldn’t want to come.”

The Winter Ball was hosted by Students United Committee years ago, and this year’s heads wanted to bring it back. When brainstorming at the end of summer, they decided to take a more event-based approach to bring students together, rather than follow their committee bylaws to a T. According to the student government constitution, some of Students United’s responsibilities are to hold diversity dialogues, conduct surveys to identify the issues students feel are important, and lead morning exes to honor Martin Luther King Jr. or Black History Month.

“We didn’t like the expectations of the dialogues in our bylaws, because they’re supposed to be race-driven, and a lot of students dread talking about race,” sophomore head Anjali Chandel said. We feel that those discussions aren’t very effective, so we want to unite students through fun, free events instead.”

The Committee’s choice to coordinate a dance, instead of facilitating dialogues, was based on experience. “Last year, we had a lot of discussion-based lunches, and I feel like we didn’t have as much participation from the student body as we would have liked,” Njei said. “To make progress, the administration has to initiate discussions and train students so they could also lead discussions regarding topics such as race, gender, and sexual orientation, or even bring in professionals to do so. I think that as students now, who don’t have much experience guiding important dialogues, we shouldn’t be leading discussions amongst our peers. It can become a joke conversation because a friend of yours might not think that you’re qualified to lead discussions on serious topics.”

Students United has already considered events that they believe would bring students together. The committee is preparing for an art showcase in the spring that would allow students to display their work, as well as its annual sleep-under in the last months of school.