Our first Winter Formal, hosted by the junior class, was held on Saturday, February 11 in the cafeteria. Though just enough tickets were sold to have the dance, the junior class worked tirelessly to make the small dance a night to remember.

By: Dagney Palmer

With just 106 tickets sold, the Snow Ball ended up being the smallest dance ever held at Tuscarora, barely filling a corner of the cafeteria. But the ball’s small size didn’t discourage its attendees from having a blast! The junior class President Nathan Huet and Vice President Sarah Hilado worked with the class sponsors to organize a group of volunteers to collect supplies and make decorations for the dance. These dedicated students and teachers stayed after school the Friday before the dance to set up the paper snowflakes and twinkling lights around the cafeteria.
As if it was meant to be, snow began to fall softly in Leesburg on the night of the dance. Around 8:00 p.m., groups of students began arriving at the school, eager to escape the chilling wind outside. The cafeteria was barely recognizable; the windows in the main hallways were draped in blue and white and sprinkled with delicate paper snowflakes. Larger paper snowflakes hung whimsically from the ceiling, and the room was bordered by glowing strings of Christmas lights. Completing the scene perfectly was the open balcony, trimmed with lights and dusted with snow.
Since there was such a small group of people at the Snow Ball, everyone got a chance to get up close to the DJ, and there was plenty of room to move around. At the opposite side of the cafeteria, tables were set up where anyone could sit and have a snack. A large table was laden with cupcakes, chips, and cookies, along with cups for soda. The playlist was organized by Nathan Huet and consisted of a wide mix of songs and artists and a remixed, extra-long song mash-up ending with “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.
Though students seemed a little hesitant at first, when they realized there were less than a hundred students at the ball, they soon relaxed and had fun. Junior Jenny Cartwright said she “had a lot of fun, enjoyed the music, and just overall enjoyed the night.”
 Junior Katheryn Caldwell saw the Snow Ball as a nice change from previous dances because “it was small, but it made it so everyone was just dancing with everybody else; it kind of brought us all together.” It was true that by the end of the night the groups of dancers melded into one, whereas at the homecoming dance everyone mostly keeps to their own groups of friends.
Michael Richardson described the dance as “awesome, [and] way more relaxed than homecoming,” and he thought it was “a great first Winter Formal for those of us who haven’t had one untill this year.”
Most students, however, did not attend the Snow Ball because, as Tyler Garling puts it, “I had zero interest in going.” Maybe there will be a better turn-out at next year’s Winter Formal, or maybe it will continue to be a small but unexpectedly fun dance.