By Lili Samios
LEESBURG- On Saturday February 12, 2011 Tuscarora High school was planning to hold a Valentine’s Day Dance, which was sponsored by the drama department. Tickets were $7.00 and were sold starting February 7, 2011, five days before the dance. The dance was going to be informal, which means people did not need to dress up. Tuscarora was going to hold this dance in the place of a winter formal, a dance in which one would dress up for. Some students were upset that they would not be able to dress up for their winter dance. This was shown in the fact that only 17 tickets were sold for the dance, rather than the necessary 300. Because of this the dance was canceled.
This year, the Valentine’s Day dance was set up more like a party than a dance. It is unfair that Tuscarora did not get a real dance as most students don’t want to go to a party at the school; they could throw their own party. They want to go to a dance (there is only one winter formal a year) and now no one at Tuscarora will have the chance to go to one this school year.
A majority of the sophomores and juniors at Tuscarora came from either Heritage, or County. Both of these schools have had winter formals anually, so it is unfair that the students of Tuscarora don’t get an opportunity to go to one. They may have been able to go to a dance at a different high school, but it isn’t the same to go to a school where you don’t know everyone else. It could be argued that the school, being so new, couldn’t afford a winter formal, but students could have easily set up a fundraiser to pay for it themselves.
Although some students would feel more comfortable in an informal setting, the majority of our classsmates don’t. The school should provide a formal winter dance to students; holding an informal dance is pointless.