This year’s Winter Ball was held on Saturday, February 3rd, from 7 PM to 10 PM and took place in the main gym. This year’s Winter Ball compared to this year’s Homecoming appears to be lacking in the number of attendees. Last year’s Winter Ball consisted of decent music and extra activities such as board games and Mario Cart inside the small gym and this year it was no different.
It seems that every year when winter ball comes around the excited buzz appears to be less significant compared to Homecoming or Prom and appeal is not as attractive to the student population. Winter ball is held inside the school’s main gym due to the seasonal cold weather. The main gym holds the DJ where people gather together to do the majority of the partying and the small gym contains snacks and bottled water along with the games.
The main rule of Winter Ball is that students are restricted to only the gyms; this does not leave much room for the attendees to occupy. For this reason, the small gym is used as a cool-down area where students can relax and rest their feet while still entertaining themselves. Inside the small gym, there are games including cornhole, ping pong, and a photo booth. What might be the reason that students other than the freshmen are not attending the Winter Ball?
Sophomore Nya Duncan, a member of Granada’s leadership team states “About 400 students attend winter ball whereas over 1,000 students go to homecoming and prom. This is mainly because juniors and seniors don’t like to go and instead attend the prom.” There seems to be a running theme that the upperclassmen do not like to attend certain school events; this is most likely because they have already attended the events during their freshman/sophomore year and do not feel the need to experience the same thing again. Instead, they are more interested in focusing on the new experiences they can participate in now that they are in their last years of high school.
Many others agree that once receiving the original experience there is no reason to spend more money and go again. It makes sense that the juniors and seniors put their money and time toward their new privileges and leave behind their old ones.
Sophomore Erandy Calva refuses to attend the Winter Ball; he states, “The middle school dances are better. They have free food and larger areas to hang out in compared to Winter Ball; the tickets are way too expensive.” Tickets to the Winter Ball cost $35 without ASB; Erandy who does not have ASB is unwilling to pay for the ticket. He is more interested in spending his weekends downtown with his friends. Even for the sophomores, there is no reason to revisit winter ball, and just like the juniors and seniors they are ready for new experiences and are done with the ones they have already been involved with.
Sophomore Nicole Spiller had a similar response, “I have better things to do on a Saturday night; it’s a waste of time because the experience is not worth it after you have gone once.” Many non-Freshmen, including Nicole, agree that the original experience was enough and that to go again to the same ball is a waste of money and time that could be better spent.
Markell Batara who is a sophomore at Granada detests the idea of attending winter ball again; he says, “It’s gonna be boring; it’s literally just gonna be a bunch of people in a gym listening to music and getting sweaty.” Markell believes that the Winter Ball is simply boring and nothing to get excited about. His freshmen experience of Winter Ball was a huge letdown. He continues to say, “Last year everyone was throwing water bottles…homecoming is definitely better.”
Granada events have had issues with students littering and throwing open water bottles into large crowds. Markell and many other attendees of last year’s Winter Ball were victims of this behavior. Most students doubted that this year’s Winter Ball would be any different. Additionally, the school does not turn on the air conditioning inside the gym which causes masses of heat to be generated in the confined area. This can be dangerous for students sensitive to the heat.
Sophomore Deron Head despises the cost of the tickets which is currently at $35 without ASB and $30 with ASB. He states, “Sh*tś expensive, it should be $20; for [a] $35 ticket you got to offer free food no one wants to stay in a gym that’s sweaty as he**.”
The revenue gathered from ticket sales goes toward a specific grade to fund that chosen year’s programs, events, and extracurriculars. Many are starting to question if the cost of tickets is too high. Is it plausible that a high school needs to pay $30 to $35 to go to Winter Ball? And, again, the topic of poor ventilation is one of the reasons students ultimately choose not to go.
It is unlikely that ticket prices will drop to a more understandable level and it doesn’t seem like air conditioning will be utilized during the dance again. For this and many other reasons such as simply not being interested in participating in something they have already gone through, upperclassmen and sophomores aren’t interested in attending this year’s winter ball. It seems that at future Winter Balls freshmen will be dominating the dance floor.
