A Night of Wonder: Winter Formal 2014

By Jenna Willett

Even though The Gatton Academy is not your normal high school, we still participate in fairly normal high school practices, like dances. Typical high schools have homecoming, but at an atypical Academy, where competitive sports are not available, we have Winter Formal.

Winter Formal, or Fall Formal as some have dubbed it due to its occurrence before Thanksgiving, is a time where little Gatton girls and little Gatton boys dress in nice clothes and crowd the fourth floor common area. Some students brought outside guests, others went with a big group of friends, and still others showed up just for food and made a quick escape.

Lights bedazzled the ceiling like the multitude of stars in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. A nice touch considering this year’s theme was, in fact, “Starry Night.” Pictures were taken in front of a student-made rendition of the original artwork and memories were made while dancing to music ranging from the 80’s to “Today’s Top 40’s”.

One of the best parts of Winter Formal, in my not-so-humble opinion, was that no one cared what you looked like dancing—whether it be like a fool or a professional—they just wanted to share in the good times and get away from the stress of college classes. When we were together on the dance floor, we were family. No judgment, no negative comments on dance moves, just pure fun.