PRO: A winter formal would benefit the JC school community

Including a formal dance in John Carroll’s schedule during the long winter months would give students something fun to look forward to in the time between major breaks.

As of right now, JC has three major dances incorporated into the school year: Homecoming, Junior Ring, and Senior Prom. Aside from Homecoming, Ring and Prom are organized for specific grades to celebrate major milestones in their high school careers.

Although students from other grade levels can be invited to Ring by juniors or Prom by seniors, JC only has one dance where freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors are all invited to attend. By incorporating a winter formal into the school year, all students would have another opportunity to attend more than one major formal school dance.

This would also encourage students to socialize with members of different grade levels other than the ones within their own classes. Through sports, clubs, advisory, and some classes, students form bonds with those in grades above and below theirs. A winter formal for all grade levels would give students another opportunity to bond with their older or younger friends outside of a regular classroom setting.

Additionally, a winter formal could be another fundraising opportunity for the school. Profits made from ticket sales could be funneled into other events and programs.
School dances are also an extremely effective way a school can rally their student body together to celebrate their school spirit. Similar to having a Homecoming Game, students and faculty could be encouraged to attend basketball games played by both the boys’ and girls’ teams that fall just before the dance.

The attendance at these games would, hopefully, create a lively and spirited energy that could be carried over to the dance, giving students time to socialize and celebrate with their classmates during one of the more stressful times of the school year.

However, to keep this event from just being a second Homecoming, the group who would organize the dance can use it as an opportunity to express their creativity and add elements that would make a winter formal stand out from other dances.

Students who attend the formal could vote on superlatives for categories like “Best Dressed,” “Best Dance Moves,” and “The Most Fashionably Late.” Ideas that are unable to fit into the agenda for other formal dance could be used for the winter formal as well. That way the majority of students are able to attend a dance that they really enjoy at least once during the school year.

Along with building school spirit, a winter formal could also build holiday spirit as well. Depending on when the dance is scheduled for, it could take on the theme of what holiday is closest, whether it be Christmas, New Year’s, or Valentine’s Day.

Overall, the addition of a winter formal could benefit the JC community both financially and socially as the dance would allow the school to raise money for other events, give students a fun and exciting opportunity to relieve stress, and provide another time to dress up formally. – Els Krimsky

CON: An additional dance would take away from other formals

When considering new events to include in the school year, JC should not add a winter formal.

A winter formal is a school dance open to all grades, similar to Homecoming, hosted in the winter months. Some have advocated that a winter formal would be an exciting addition to the calendar. However, a winter formal would create more problems than lasting memories for the JC community.

Hosting a dance in the middle of winter would be freezing, and you could not count on the weather to cooperate.

Taking pictures outside before the dance would not be very enjoyable for students and their families. While male students might be fairly warm in their suits, females would be too chilly in just dresses and heels.

Unlike other school dances, students would have to make a cold journey from the parking lot to the entrance of JC to get into the dance. Additionally, students would be uncomfortable stepping outside during the dance for some fresh air due to the extremely cold temperatures.

There is also a possibility that a winter formal could be snowed out and have to be postponed or possibly even canceled. Organizers should not have to plan for alternate dates for inclement weather.

A winter formal would be too similar to Homecoming. Both dances are open to all students and are located at JC. Hosting a winter formal runs the risk of students getting bored and tired of school dances, which may lead them to not attend future dances or even other school events.

In addition, a winter formal would take away some of the importance from events like the Junior Ring Dance and Senior Prom. The purpose of not having dances in the winter is to make the upperclassmen dances more meaningful when the spring months finally arrive.

The Student Government Association (SGA) probably would oversee planning an event like a winter formal. Organizing this event would be extremely time-consuming and require months of hard work. This would leave them with less time to focus on more pressing issues affecting Patriots.

In past years, JC has hosted winter dances like the Sadie Hawkins dances, but they were not well-attended. The winter months are a busy time for all students. If JC is going to take the time to plan a dance for students, they need to be well-worth it and inspire a great turnout.

There have been no winter dances at JC during the last few years. It should remain this way.
School dances are meant to celebrate the student body or a class as a whole. A winter formal would cause too many issues for students and teachers, making for an unenjoyable experience for everyone involved. – Maddie Root