Abbey Marshall | Staff Writer
National Honor Society held their annual Winter Dance in the large commons on Saturday, January 17 from 8-11:30 p.m. The dance was Hawaiian themed and all proceeds went to benefit the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Tag: school dance
PHOTO GALLERY: After Prom 2014
Abbey Marshall | Staff Writer
Juniors and seniors were invited to attend After Prom from 1-4am following Prom on Saturday, April 26.
Goin’ Gatsby
NHS gets green light to host Roaring ’20s winter dance
Abbey Marshall | Staff Writer
Photo by Abbey Marshall
National Honor Society is partying with Jay Gatsby on January 25, and they don’t intend to make it the small affair it was last year.
There were many lessons to be learned from last year’s neon dance, according to senior co-chair Jess Hart. Hart said there are improvements being made to lure in more students, starting with the glitzy Great Gatsby theme.
“Last year the leaders did a really good job but it was sort of last minute and I think this year it’s a little more thought-out and it will feel more like a dance, whereas last year it just felt like an NHS event,” Hart said.
In addition to more planning time, another goal of the winter dance is to increase underclassmen attendance using greater publicity than last year, according to Mathur.
“Last year, we didn’t do as good of a job of advertising as we could have,” Mathur said. “A lot of juniors and seniors were there, but not a lot of freshmen or sophomores attended the dance. Our goal this year is to market it to everybody. Last year, our turnout was around 200 to 300 but I expect at least 700 people to go this year. We’re going to put up a lot of posters and have a lot of announcements to tell everyone about it.”
According to Mathur, better organization will help get the tasks at hand accomplished and create a more exciting experience.
“Another thing we’re doing this year [to improve] is to organize,” Mathur said. “We’re trying to find a better DJ to play better music. We’re trying to make the dance just run more smoothly than it did last year.”
In contrast to the neon theme last year, this winter dance is taking on a classier approach, according to Hart.
“Last year we did neon and we got a lot of complaints that [students] wanted to be dressy,” Hart said. “I think
Gatsby has that informal, dressy touch.”
Mathur said the decorations are going to be top-of-the-line, displaying the glamour of the Roaring ‘20s, including a cardboard cutout of the famous Gatsby car for guests to take photos with.
“We’re going to dress up the large commons really elaborately with decorations and a lot of ornaments to try to make it as Gatsby as possible,” Mathur said.
The most important achievement the dance is hoping to accomplish is to havefun while raising money for a noble cause, according to NHS Advisor Barb Shuba.
“It’s not meant to be another homecoming or prom; it’s meant to be a fun event that people can come low key, dance,” Shuba said. “It was another way to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma [Foundation] without donating what’s in your pocket,” Shuba said. “That’s kind of where it stemmed the challenge of, ‘Let’s find different ways to raise money aside from just giving money’… sadly, so many students at Mason are impacted by this disease.”
Abbey Marshall 