The weekly Wednesday Student Council meeting didn’t start with anything special. It was just another planning session with a shared Google Doc and a list of tasks to complete before the WPA dance that felt longer than anyone wanted to admit.
But as co-dance committee members, senior Georgia Boyd and junior Vada Walsh, began outlining the process of choosing a Sweetheart Dance theme, they realized planning this year's dance would take more than just a quick decision.
The school dance everyone would eventually be talking about didn’t begin with a playlist or an Amazon list of decorations; it started with a blank document and a lengthy list of theme options.
Before a single window could be painted or a decoration hung, the team had to detail every aspect of the event on a MacBook screen.
Around ten theme ideas were thrown out between Boyd and Walsh. Some were creative, like carnival and skiing, while others were unrealistic. Walsh and the rest of the committee discussed each one, thinking about what students would actually enjoy.
Eventually, they narrowed it down and created a presentation to bring their ideas to the rest of the Student Council.
With a vote from the whole committee, on Jan. 7, Boyd and Walsh presented their top dance themes.
“We show our ideas, and then ask if anyone else has any other ideas,” Walsh said. “We then send out a poll in our student council to group me with all the potential ideas and put it all together.”
After a vote, the theme was chosen.
Winter Wonderland.
Once the theme was decided, the focus shifted to execution and decorating. Senior and Student Council class representative Sarah Stein explained how each decoration needed to match the theme, and while students were given creative freedom, they still followed a detailed plan.
The decorating process begins early in the morning, around 9:00 a.m. and takes two hours to complete. Decorating a single window might take only about 45 minutes, organizing supplies, assigning roles and ensuring everything looks consistent adds extra time.
Still, Stein enjoyed this part the most; as a member of the visual merchandising team for the SM East coffee shop, she loves turning blank boards into something eye-catching.
“I'm big on writing, so if I can write anything artistic on the drawing scale, it’s great for me,” Stein said.
Beyond the winter wonderland galore on the 5th floor stairwell, on the opposite side of the school on the south ramp, are encouraging messages from the Sources of Strength club.
Sources of Strength is a program promoting mental health awareness, utilizing the sources of strength “wheel” which consists of family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, physical health and mental health.
Cosponsor and teachers Meghan Stanley, alongside Emily MacNaughton and have both been involved in cosponsoring for about four years.
“I do it because I believe that mental health awareness should be more freely talked about,” Stanley said.
A few times per semester on national or world-wide designated mental health days, students and the two cosponsors brainstorm designs during seminar on Tuesdays to draw on windows with window markers.
Students will draw the Sources of Strength wheel, make sure the 988 hotline, a Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, is written somewhere with positive phrases throughout the window. It's typically different depending on the theme each month, some including September, October and May
“So many teenagers face varying degrees of mental health struggles.” Stanley said. “By offering resources and support, hopefully we can help those teenagers not feel alone & also be able to provide resources like the 988 hotline.”
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