Leadership hosted its annual Winter Formal, themed “A Night in the Golden City,” at the Mitchell Park Community Center on Saturday night. The venue glittered with golden streamers, balloons, and bright neon lights.
Despite the festive decorations, attendance was noticeably low—only about 120 students bought tickets to the event. However, those who did attend still had fun, arriving well-dressed and in-theme with black, blue, white, and red outfits.
Some students voiced disappointment at the lack of attendees. “It’s really sad. And I kinda want to go to McDonald’s instead,” senior Kirsten Trihy said.
“This should have been a little more. But the only reason why I think that right now is because it’s the Winter Formal. Obviously, we’re going out at night, but it’s gonna be really, really cold,” freshman Xavier Salas said.
During the planning process, Leadership made several changes to the formal event, including the theme. “I wouldn’t like to speak about it as much, but I believe that the initial theme was supposed to be ‘A Night in Harlem,’” senior and Leadership student Rico Arriaga said. “I believe that it was because it was going to be during Black History Month, so we wanted to do something to honor it. But at the end of the day, we don’t have many people of color in our program. That’s the reason why it created backlash.”
The event featured a small coat check area and a selection of drinks, but beyond that, not much stood out. Ultimately, while Winter Formal had the potential to be a grand evening, many attendees left feeling underwhelmed.
