Making the Year 9 Spring Dance a success: sunflower seeds and smart planning.

By Elaine Law

At long last, it was March 29th! Year 9 students were able to attend and enjoy the Year 9 spring dance, which consisted of performances, music, hanging out, eating sunflower seeds, and — of course — dancing! But has anyone wondered what’s happened backstage? What went on behind the scenes? Who organised all this, and how did they make it happen?

It all started back in early January, when the idea was approved by the Student Council. This was really exciting: since most of the focus group really wanted to plan another dance they started as soon as they got permission. The focus group members and other volunteers were all assigned to one of four committees: the advertising, communications, entertainment, and decoration committees. From there, they hosted bi-weekly meetings to plan and discuss the progress made on the dance.

Year 9 students may recall that in early February, a form and poster created by the advertising committee was sent out to check the availability of all students. They used the information from the form to plan out the PAC layout. A playlist was created (and filtered), photostrip graphics and backdrops, food guidelines, a dress code… and soon, the date of the dance came and everything was put together into action.

According to Anna Wheeler, a current Student Council and focus group member, the dance “was so amazing” and she was very thankful for everyone for “being proactive ALL THE TIME” and “having such positive attitudes.” She also stated that she thought the dance was “way better than last year”!

So what did Year 9 think? After the dance, the focus group sent out yet another form where Year 9 students could respond to how they felt the dance went. A majority of the students (58.5%) felt that the dance was “alright” and just the right length. Anonymous students agreed that the performances, music, photo booth and the food students brought — especially the sunflower seeds — made the dance great, even better than the 2021 Year 8 Winter Dance.

However, not everything was perfect. Some students (12.2%) thought that the dance was “not great”, “boring” and that there was not much to do there. It was also mentioned that there wasn’t enough food (not enough sunflower seeds…?), and that there wasn’t really much to do there other than hang out with friends.

The focus group reviewed the feedback and took it into consideration in case another dance were to be planned in the future. Overall, the dance was viewed as a success by most of the year, and the Year 9 focus group was glad — at last, after so much hard work and planning, they could sit back and appreciate their final product —and even better, that most people had a fun time dancing - and eating sunflower seeds!