It’s a Saturday night, and you’re all dressed up to go to Spring Fling. A couple of your friends will be there, and it is the last dance of the year before prom. You head onto the dance floor only to find it practically empty; your fun Saturday night full of energy and dancing is no more. This is what Spring Fling might have looked like– had it not been canceled before it could even happen.

On Feb. 28, Assistant Director of Upper School Meg Anderson-Johnson announced on Schoology that Spring Fling would not be happening this year. According to Anderson-Johnson, a dance cancellation is rare and has not happened for more than five years.
ASB President and senior Alexa Carlisle is one of the many people who helps put school dances together and was disappointed about the news, but not surprised.

“I think people are used to UPrep and want to get out more,” Carlisle said. “I think it’s really exciting to go to a venue. But we spend six hours a day at school, so you don’t really want to come back on the weekends.”

If students were required to attend school dances to meet an attendance threshold, Carlisle would not want to attend.
“If people are forced to show up or aren’t excited to be there, that makes the whole event not fun for anybody,” Carlisle said. “I don’t know why ASB, not just the execs, but the reps, should have to put in all this time and effort planning and setting it up.”

Ninth-grader Eleena Bhalla purchased tickets to go to the dance and was disappointed when Anderson-Johnson canceled it.

“I was looking forward to it, but I wasn’t super excited because I’ve been to the winter dance and it was kind of a letdown,” Bhalla said. “I was hoping that if people showed up for Spring Fling, it’d be fun, but I honestly didn’t get my hopes up too high.”

While Spring Fling off-campus could increase attendance, Carlisle explains that there is an easy way to increase attendance at dances: school spirit.

“UPrep students just need to wake up,” Carlisle said. “They always complain that there is no spirit at UPrep, but they have to wake up and realize they are the ones in control of that. If you just choose to one day paint your face blue or to go to sports games or just make it your number one priority, we would be a spirited school. But people choose to complain rather than actually do something about it.”

Source: 39 upper school UPrep students from across all four grades.