At first, spending my Saturday night at school at a dance with mostly freshmen was not something I was looking forward to. However, by the end of the night I was having an amazing time and was so glad I went. 

My freshman and sophomore year, there was a dance in March called Tulip Trot. It was open to multiple grades, but was widely known as a freshman dance. 

Last year, my junior year, the student council added a Winter Formal in December. However, the attendance was pretty low as people had a lot going on and little interest in going to another dance. 

Student council tried to encourage more upperclassmen to go to Tulip Trot last year. They renamed it to Spring Fling and advertised it as an all school dance, but the stereotype of it being a freshman dance still existed and only freshmen went. 

This year, the spring dance was cut and the winter dance was retitled Snowcoming and moved to Jan 25, 2025. 

When I first heard about the dance, I was hoping that people would go. I thought having another dance would be a fun opportunity. 

However, as my grade started talking about it, everyone was still calling it a freshman dance. The general consensus among everyone was that we were not going to the dance. 

Eventually, the student council decided to make it a requirement that all members attend. So, my student council friends and I bought our tickets and convinced a few other people to come.

I was no longer as excited about the dance because I knew not a lot of people from my grade were going to be there and everyone was joking around about how it was going to be us and the freshman. 

Before the dance had even started, people were complaining and saying it would not be fun.

I think this is the biggest problem surrounding our dances. A few people get opinions in their head that they do not want to go to a dance, and then it suddenly spreads to everyone that they should not want to go to the dance. 

We have a lot of trouble adapting and getting on board for dances that are not Homecoming or Prom. 

I really wish this was not the case, because I had a lot of fun at Snowcoming, and I think others would have too if they had been willing to come. 

The dance consisted of games such as curling and bags and a DJ with lots of dancing. All of these aspects made the dance unique and exciting. 

It was hard to shake the stereotype, so the attendees were mostly freshmen. Though, it seemed the freshmen had a good experience and really enjoyed themselves. 

“I thought the games were fun and the DJ was pretty good,” freshman Nora Gunnil said. 

There were also a good number of seniors that showed up. As a senior myself, I think we all had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out with the younger kids. Since we were the oldest, we were not afraid to be front and center and have a good time. 

“I think the seniors being there helped the freshman relax more,” student activities director Ms. Krein said. “They made it ok to have fun and do stuff.” 

This was definitely true. Once the seniors started having fun, everyone else copied. By the end of the night we were all dancing and playing games. It was a really good time. 

“I’m happy that people who didn’t think they were going to have fun actually said they ended up having fun,” Ms. Krein said. 

Snowcoming definitely got tainted by people’s opinions, but these people did not even go to the dance. I wish that people at Loyola would stop judging and talking negatively about school dances and just be willing to buy a ticket and have fun for the night. 

Despite the fact that everyone said the dance was going to be boring, it was a really good time, and I think the people that talked badly about it and did not go were missing out.