Anna He
Anna He 
Anna He
Aragon held its Winter Formal dance on Feb. 11 at Fox Theater in Redwood City, the first formal since the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme of the dance was “An Evening In New York.”
“[The Winter Formal] is a fresh start,” said sophomore and dance commission member Ria Vij. “It’s a way to refresh students because it can get really stressful with … a new semester.”
Following the Homecoming dance, where ticket sales exceeded the capacity of the venue, Leadership’s dance commission restructured ticket sales for Winter Formal. Tickets were available to purchase exclusively for Aragon students during the first two weeks of sales. After that, since the 900 person capacity of the venue had not yet been reached, guest passes were sold. The ticket prices were also fixed at $35 for three weeks before increasing to $50 during the week prior to the dance, as opposed to the Homecoming Dance, in which prices were increased incrementally week by week. Seven hundred forty seven Aragon students and guests attended the event.
“We wanted to make sure that Aragon students had first priority in [buying tickets],” Vij said. “We kept [tickets] at the same price for a while because we knew that during lunch, not everyone was going to have the chance to stop by for a flash sale … [and we didn’t want to] rush [students] to get their ticket.”
Furthermore, in response to a shortage of loaner Chromebooks and various books in the library, students needed to return all overdue library items before they were allowed to buy tickets.
“Who doesn’t like to dress up, get ready with their friends, go out and spend a night being teenagers?”
“We [took] this opportunity to collect as many items back as possible,” said Library Media Technician Michaela Pisaro. “There [were] so many overdue items that students [had not returned] … [that] we [had] to purchase more.”
On the night of the dance, the theater’s auditorium was set up as the dance floor. Outside the auditorium, a variety of snacks as well as bottled water were available to students free of charge. Upstairs, a photo booth and a flipbook station were set up, along with a coat check station.
“Who doesn’t like to dress up, get ready with their friends, go out and spend a night being teenagers?” said junior Mikaela George. “When you look at movies … [high school] wasn’t about AP [classes], it wasn’t about worrying so much about college, but it was about having fun. Formal is one night … where you can set those worries aside and have a good time.”
The night went smoothly without notable issues, with Principal Valerie Arbizu reporting in an Aragon Dons update on Aeries that “the only major dramatic incident was a broken shoe.”
Prior to the dance, Aragon administration released a statement cautioning students about a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases at school, reminding students that they were still expected to stay home if they tested positive for COVID. In the week after the dance, a spike in COVID cases on campus prompted the administration to postpone events such as the Meet & Greet with Superintendent Randall Booker and Principal Arbizu, as well as the Winter “Unformal” Rally.
“At the dance, we were so busy having fun that [COVID] didn’t cross my mind as much as I would have hoped it would,” George said. “Moving forward … [the school should mandate that] either you must be vaccinated or you must give proof of a negative COVID test [prior to a dance]. Nobody wants to get sick after going to a dance, and we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our health for having fun.”
Following the dance, Leadership will turn its focus to preparation for the final dance of the year, Prom, which is tentatively scheduled for April 8.
