By: Emma Grossman
Picture this: white, twinkling Christmas lights draped across the balconies in the WHS lobby. Girls all dolled up with their hair curled and nails done, wearing beautiful, expensive dresses. Boys all wearing button-up shirts and ties, trying to look their best and impress the girls. This is what the semi-formal, held by the Class of 2016, looked like on December 6. Hundreds of freshman, sophomores, and even the occasional junior and senior piled into the lobby for the dance. Students bought their $12 tickets to the dance, waiting for the painfully long half day to end, so that they may go home and begin to get ready for the dance. However, the dance did not go exactly as planned for the excited students.
Students entered the lobby for what they thought would be a fun, exciting night, but left disappointed. When news that there would be a semi-formal spread throughout the halls of WHS, students were thrilled to say the least. At last there would be a dance that wasn’t cancelled last-second, or a dance that students would actually enjoy. But the night wasn’t nearly as fun as hoped. When students first entered the lobby, a sense of disappointment spread through them as they took in the scenery. The lights were bright and all on and there were minimal decorations; only a few strings of Christmas lights were strewn across the balconies.
The students didn’t show up alone; Mr. Callaghan and his trusty teachers patrolled the dance from the balconies, keeping a watchful eye on everyone and everything. The music was provided by DJ Alex, who played one slow song throughout the entire night. Now, did students go to the semi-formal to jam out to One Direction all night, or did they want to enjoy a few slow songs with their date? The answer is the second choice. While fun was still had busting moves out on the “dance floor”, I think I speak for everyone in attendance when I say several slow songs were expected to be played that Friday night, not just one. The point of bringing a date to the semi-formal was to enjoy a few slow-dance songs with their partner, but this was not really an option at Westborough’s semi-formal. This music dilemma brings me to my next point; dates.
“Dates are not required!” said almost every class office representative from both the Class of 2016 and the Class of 2017, but what they didn’t know, is that although they weren’t required, they were expected. In the weeks and even days prior to “semi”, there were students trying to find someone to accompany them to the dance. The sophomore class specifically. About 85% of the sophomores in attendance had a date with them, but the freshmen on the other hand did not. It went like this in the freshman class: if you were already dating someone, it was expected you would go with that person. However if you were not dating anybody, dates were few and far between. Even the mere idea of bringing a date as freshman created stress among both the boys and girls. Only about 15% of the freshmen were with someone. Dates at the semi-formal danced together to both the pop songs and the sole slow song. However, once again, couples were disappointed that there was only one slow song. Dates differed between grades, and in the end, it did not really matter whether you brought one or not.
Though the semi-formal ended up being a disappointment to most, students still enjoyed getting dressed up and taking pictures with their friends. Unfortunately, this was the highlight of the night for most.
