Several East students will be out of town competing in club tournaments and national competitions on February 15 during the Woman Pay All dance.
This year, the WPA dance happens to fall on President’s Day weekend. Since it’s a four day weekend, many students have pre-determined plans for vacation or sports. The Lancer Dancers will be in Orlando, Florida for nationals and students who play soccer for Elite Club National League will be in Dallas.
At the end of January, the Student Council heard many complaints and met with Principal Jason Peres to discuss changing the date to Feb. 22, but ultimately decided against it would cause too many complications, since students already have reservations made.
As the social chair for StuCo, senior and Lancer Dancer Parker Paben helps decorate the gym for every dance this year. Out of town the day of WPA, Paben is assigning other StuCo members like junior Paige Bean and senior Ingrid Blacketer the job. Paben still helped pick all the decorations off Amazon for the Valentine’s Day theme and sent them to Mrs. Diekmann to order.
“I would so much rather be at nationals,” said Paben. “When I found out, I was really sad, but then they were saying it was gonna be moved and I got my hopes [up].”
Dance team senior Ella Hargens was nominated for Sweetheart Court. She was initially excited when she found out, but quickly realized she wouldn’t be able to attend due to dance nationals.
“I was really happy about it initially because it’s such a big honor and something I never thought would happen,” Hargens said. “[It made] me feel really happy and special but I didn’t really realize that I wouldn’t be able to participate.”
If Hargens wins, she plans for a friend to accept the award on her behalf. Her grandparents and sister are all still going to support Hargens. Like Paben, Hargens is sad she won’t be able to attend her last WPA but wouldn’t want to miss out on nationals after practicing all year for the competition.
Sophomore Lauren Mercer has only attended one out of three East dances since she joined East due to her soccer schedule at Kansas City athletics. Her first Homecoming dance was at Pembroke Hill sophomore year. According to Mercer, it’s gotten easier and easier to miss dances since she does it so often, but still says it’s unfortunate as she still gets slight anxiety missing out on these moments.
Both Paben and Mercer agreed they aren’t mad about missing the hassle of finding a dress, date and making sure they have set plans part.
Sophomore Miles Mccune prefers Homecoming because it’s the beginning of the year and the first “big event” of the year. He thinks WPA is unnecessary.
“I’d say some pros of WPA are it’s the freshman and sophomores’ last dance of the year so it’s always something to look forward to,” Mccune said. “And some cons I would say is the date because so many people are out of town.”
Mccune thinks figuring out where to take pictures, eat dinner and where the afterparty is stresses students out, causing them not wanting to go.
“I wish more people were going because that’s kinda what makes it the most fun is being with your friends but we’ll figure it out,” Mccune said.