University Prep hosted a school dance on March 8, thanks to the planning of the middle school student council. All 10 students on ASB provided opinions and helped with the organization of the dance, along with the help of Tim Blok, the assistant director of the middle school.
“Every year I’m really excited to see what theme ideas they have and what they are excited about,” Blok said.
Council members work together, pitching theme ideas and proceeding to vote on the options.
“The students have a big part because they’re the ones that are attending and having fun with it,” seventh grader Sulekha Hassan said.
Students like ASB President Hassan are a major part of planning, with meetings every week leading up to the dance. Middle School Executive Olea Garz’s favorite part is assembling everything.
“I think it’s really fun to see it all come together,” Garz said.
After every dance, students often have opinions to share.
“I got to take lots of photos with my friends and preserved many memories,” sixth grader Victoria Bai said.
Seventh grader Sylvie Kamb agreed.
“Taking photos was a real highlight because it made it more memorable,” Kamb said.
Most students appreciated the photo booths and found the Pumadome to be their favorite place to have the dance, according to a survey by Puma Prints.
For every positive thing, there are a couple of negatives. Students disliked the DJ, including seventh grader Annie McAllister who didn’t like it “when the DJ cut off the good parts of songs and re-played bad songs.”
“The songs weren’t that good,” another seventh grader, Emma Knobbs, said.
However, it can be hard to please everyone.
“Even with just 10 people in the room, it can be a challenge,” Blok said “So if you start adding in feedback from everybody, it gets tricky.”
Everyone’s opinions can’t always be heard, as we have a large student body, but student council tries to find ways to get students’ thoughts heard through surveys and asking around the school.
“If it was just me up there telling kids to come to a dance. I don’t think they’d be super excited. But I think when it’s their peers, and they’re bringing energy and enthusiasm and creativity and fun ideas,” Blok said, “that makes it an actual event instead of just being a formality that we have to go through.”