By Riley Gonzales, News Editor
The Winter Snow Ball, which was scheduled to take place from 6:30 to 9:30 PM on February 17th, was recently canceled due to low ticket sales, leaving many students disappointed.
Junior Lillian Graham bought a ticket so that she could have a fun night with her friends. She shared that one of the things she was looking forward to was preparing for the dance, exclaiming, “we can buy dresses and get ready together.”
Lillian’s friend and fellow junior Melina Mazzella was planning on going to the dance as well. She said, “I thought this was going to be a fun break,” and explained that she wanted to “get some cute pictures.”
Senior Marley Cosgrove is another student that was going to attend the dance, as she “wanted an excuse to dress up all winter-y and just to be with friends.” She was upset when news of the dance’s cancellation was announced. Marley, like many others, had already planned an outfit for the event. Some students had even gone out of their way to buy new dresses before the announcement was made, and will now have to find a new event to wear it to.
Despite the amount of excitement generated by the student body and preparation that the SGA put into the dance, not enough students bought tickets to meet the minimum requirement for the dance to be held. Senior Ariana Glenn expressed her own feelings about this issue, proposing a theory as to why the situation may have played out this way.
She laments, “It’s frustrating because it’s like, the fact that they had to cancel a dance because no one wanted to go was like, where’s the school spirit, you know? Where’s the school spirit, why is no one more engaged, why is no one more excited?” Could it be that, as Ariana believes, the Winter Snow Ball was unable to be held due to a shortage of school spirit at River Hill?
Junior Patrick Davis enjoys participating in school activities and showing off his school spirit, but when asked about the amount of enthusiasm other students have, he shared, “I think that some people are more inclined to have more school spirit, while others feel more disconnected.”
The majority of students agreed that school spirit was somewhat present at River Hill, though a greater effort could be made. However, a few students made a peculiar observation that might explain Patrick’s statement about those feeling “disconnected.”
Freshman Ivy Nguyen explains, “I see a lot of upperclassmen participating. For freshmen, they don’t really care about spirit days.”
Marley noticed something similar in the school hallways. She sees students showing off their spirit by participating in spirit week “pretty often, especially among upperclassmen.” Seniors recently won the Top of the Hill contest, being the class with the most participation in spirit week, so it is unsurprising that students would see many upperclassmen expressing their school spirit.
“I think it’s fun, y’know?” Lillian, an upperclassman herself says, sharing her opinion on spirit days and school events. “Gotta spice up school whenever you can.”
A few students also took note that some other schools in the county are more enthusiastic. Ivy stated that River Hill’s school spirit “is not as present as it is in other schools, like at games and spirit weeks.”
In the SGA’s statement about the Snow Ball’s cancellation, they shared that they are “hopeful that we are able to offer fun events for everyone in the future.” This means students may be able to look forward to mid-year dances in the future. If you want to attend more school events, then show off your love for River Hill.
