A daunting task with over 800 attendees, a budget to adhere to, a theme to choose, and decorations to choose and put up: Winter Formal is no easy feat. This year’s Activities Committee Chair senior Zoe Heintges is well-versed in the planning of Winter Formal.
“The most important thing is the venue, so we start looking for the venue in the summer,” Heintges said. “Then we start working on the DJs.”
This year, Winter Formal was held at Gilley’s, where St. Mark’s Homecoming and Junior Symphony Ball were also held. DJ Junk Food, who played St. Mark’s Homecoming, provided the soundtrack.
Dara Williams, Activities Committee sponsor, helps the committee work out the administrative details.
After the venue and DJ are secured, the Activities Committee starts planning the Winter Formal in October after the Upper School Mixer. The most important step after the venue and DJ is the theme.
“Everyone wrote down every idea they could think of and submitted it to an anonymous form,” Heintges said. “I made a list of all the ideas and then in a meeting we narrowed it down to five.”
The final theme is voted on by the Activities Committee and Executive Student Council. This year’s theme was “City of Stars.”
After the theme is decided, the committee starts designing the Winter Formal shirts. Since Winter Formal is open to all Hockaday students, the committee’s main source of income is the custom-designed T-shirts they sell to the student body.
“We all vote on the design of the shirt,” said Heintges.
Throughout the planning process, an open environment is of the upmost importance. Junior Elyana Brook has been on the committee since freshman year.
“Zoe is really good about getting everyone’s thoughts out and Ms. Dara is great at facilitating our meetings,” Brook said. “It definitely feels like a community.”
Dara Williams, Activities Committee sponsor, helps the committee work out the administrative details. Williams also attested to the community atmosphere of the Activities Committee.
“Zoe wants to hear everything, and she gives everybody a voice and a chance in meetings,” Williams said. “Everybody from freshmen to seniors feel very comfortable speaking up and giving their ideas.”
Another important part of Winter Formal is the freshmen dinner which the freshmen moms plan. Traditionally, freshmen arrive at the venue earlier to eat dinner as a grade with their dates. Working with the freshmen moms in planning adds another layer of communication for the committee. Some of the dinner decorations used at the freshmen dinner are then reused for the dance.
“We use their décor to help us cut down on costs,” Williams said.
After planning and preparing for months, the day of Winter Formal finally arrives. The Activities Committee’s Winter Formal day starts at 10:30 a.m. They arrive at the venue to decorate and get prepared for the 800 guests who will arrive at 8 p.m.
“My goal this year was to make WinFo fun because I feel like it gets a bad rep,” Heintges said. “I hope we can change the mindset around WinFo this year.”
