Is School Pride being Iced Out?

Nola Cox

 The price of a ticket to the Winter Ball was $50. Luis Vasquez ’25 told the Register Forum that “the tickets were way too expensive.” Harmon says that prices were high because “there were not enough funds to reduce [them].” She says Student Government was unable to raise funds because of “varying restrictions there have been on certain … events [bake sales, canvassing, etc.]” Vasquez felt that “going less overkill” with the venue would allow for lower ticket prices, a more appealing proposition for many. 

Harmon attributes the timing of the dance as the primary reason for low turnout. She says, “The dance was supposed to be right before February break … people were still figuring out if they would be traveling or not.” Others blame a lack of advertising. When asked if he was attending the Winter Ball, Theodocios Voyiatzis ’24 replied, “The what?” 

The Winter Ball’s failure may be the culmination of many factors, but most potently, students feel CRLS doesn’t have the culture that would accommodate big dances. Nicolas Valayannopoulos-Akrivou ’23 told the Register Forum that, “We’re not that type of school … that has big dances.” He believes that the price is not the issue, but rather culture. “We’re not the school that prioritizes school culture over personal lives … people would have paid more if this school had that culture.” 

There is simply not enough communal pride for school dances to work out. Oliver Ransom ’23 told the Register Forum, “A lot of grades don’t really interact with each other. It’s kind of an awkward setting to force them to interact with each other.” He continues, “Junior and senior proms are good because they’re grade exclusive.” 

Harmon, on the other hand, thinks low school spirit is temporary: “The adjustment to the new semester has been rough on a lot of students, especially seniors, and there has been less school spirit.” She says that in the future, Student Government will have to choose a more ideal date in order to sell more tickets. 

Athletes have noticed school spirit is low, despite high turnout to home games. Wide Receiver Evan Tang ’24 told the Register Forum that “school spirit is low … you just don’t see it … I think people attend sporting events because it’s a part of the culture–like Friday Night Lights, you know?–they’re good events.” Tang thinks that culture does not expand to school wide events where there is an entry fee and where the hype is lacking. 

As indoor venues restart for the first time in three years, and a damaged school community repairs after COVID, students have shown they are not as eager to attend school-wide dances as they may have once been. Perhaps this is the result of the pandemic, or perhaps school culture has shifted. Nonetheless, Harmon finds a silver lining in the Ball’s cancellation: “it helps because the money we raised [outside of ticket sales] for the ball can support both of [the upcoming Proms].”

This article also appears in our February 2023 print edition.