A couple of months ago, the Centennial School District made the harsh decision to postpone any and all after-school activities due to a massive spike in COVID numbers. This included any events that were being led by individual departments at the school, such as Multicultural night, an annual event traditionally organized by MECHA that has now been postponed to May. Another prime example that has affected many students around the school was the Winter Formal – now labeled the “Spring Formal” that had a notable rebranding in date, theme, and most immediately significant, the name.

Cynthia Arenas serves as the head of the decoration committee, and the leader for the overall event. As the president of the 2024 class, she took it upon herself to take charge and oversee everyone taking part in the Formal.

“It’s definitely hard, but it takes a lot of time to really think and process how we want the dance to go,” said Arenas. “Having only three sophomores in the class has also really made it hard, because everyone else in the sophomores is doing independent study. So far it’s been going really well. We’ve been trying to coordinate as much as we can together, and I definitely would say that it’s not an easy job that one person can do.”

“Yeah, so looking back to the most recent Winter Formal that we had, it maxed out at 150 people. So I really hope we can reach 150, or even better, exceed it. So I’ve been doing my best to try and get people to go. It’s a really fun event, so I hope people come out and have some fun.”

The representatives from the sophomore class in the Student Council have used the Spring Formal groundwork they’ve laid out as an opportunity to learn and see how a Student Council usually operates. The tradition Student Council usually follows is to have upperclassmen teach the freshman members how they manage an event, as a precursor to what they’ll be doing for the rest of their time here. However, with the COVID stipulations at play that got in the way of yearly events, the class of 2024 were not given that opportunity.

“Everyone has been really supportive in helping us coordinate and helping us kind of address how to do everything in the proper manner. So I would say the whole sophomore class, and the rest of the Student Council [are] all helping us.”

Arenas also expressed the Student Council’s initial dismay when the February date was postponed, by saying that it was a massive change no one was ready for.

“It was hard because we already had a theme in mind. We were ready to order decorations, but unfortunately we had to wipe all that out, and start fresh. New name- the dance, the theme, everything is just a little bit different in our minds now. And I think we worry too well about just transitioning, not complaining. We just transitioned the best we could, and started planning the whole new spring dance.”

“I really encourage everyone to join [the] Student Council. It’s really just a great place to have fun and learn at the same time. There are many aspects I believe that would help in growing as a person, and just help in preparing you for adulthood. And lastly, I encourage everybody to go to as many school events as they can. And to just enjoy their high school life as much as they can, and not have any regrets,” concluded Arenas.

The dance will take place in the main school gym. As of March 10th, at least 150 students have bought tickets.

It’s also worth noting that the final day the mask mandate will be in place before it’s disregarded coincides with the day of the dance. With this in mind, masks will still be required at the dance, alongside proof of vaccination and/or a negative COVID test within the past 72 hours. Initially, students did not have a positive reception to the sectioning that was occurring in the original vision of the dance. Due to the delay however, the dance committee has been given time to decide that they will no longer be sectioning, as well as omitting tables and contact tracing.

In related news, Centennial’s Yearbook team will also be present at the dance, setting up a booth as an opportunity for dance goers to receive Polaroid photos. The booth will be available throughout the entire dance’s duration from 7-11 p.m. To go with the theme, the booth will be spring-themed, with flowers and Greek inspired columns, to indicate the beginning of the season. They will be offering them to be sold for $3 a piece, while also charging $5 for two photos if attendees decide to buy multiple at a time. Winners of the Spring Court however will receive one free photo each, as well as the winners of the Dance Proposal contest Student Council initiated. Yearbook will be gaining all money from the fundraiser, further allowing them to create more content for the student body. Their wish is to make this an event students can reminisce upon, by using this as an opportunity to supply them memorabilia of the dance to take home with them. The Yearbook team has also ensured that photographers will be present at the Formal, giving everyone a chance to be a part of the 2021-2022 Yearbook.