After two long years, the Valentine’s Day dance is finally back! On February 10th, the sophomore class hosted the annual Valentine’s Day dance, which hasn’t occurred since 2020 due to COVID-19. Although the dance is traditionally for sophomores only, this year it was especially made open to all classes. According to sophomore class co-president Hoda Vohra, this decision was made because the officers “wanted the Valentine’s day dance to be as inclusive as the Spring Fling was.” “It was important to [the class officers] to give everyone an opportunity to have a good time with their friends.” People of all classes attended, and according to attendee Patrice Brewer (‘25), the decision to make it open to all classes was a positive one because “more inclusivity is always better.”

The dance was organized with the hard work of the sophomore class officers and the class of 2025 sponsor Mr. Mike Brown. According to Vohra, Brown took care of organizing the food, date, and security, so the general process of organizing the dance was overall simple for the class officers. Additionally, according to sophomore class co-president Reese Wu, parent sponsors played “a huge role” in organizing volunteers to bring food and drinks. With food and drinks already covered by volunteers, the only costs left to consider were those of decorations and staff for security and cleanup. Wu says that they primarily used money from the Fall Festival and merchandise sales to cover the cost of the dance. With everything else out of the way, the sophomore class officers were left to focus on getting the word out and decorating the commons. Vohra says, “We had a vision of what we wanted the commons to look like, and that all came together the week of the dance after putting up the lights.” The commons were beautifully decorated with shimmering lights and pink balloons, and students got to choose the music played through a song request form.

One concern while organizing the dance was the risk of COVID-19 spread. Many students tested positive for COVID after last year’s Spring Fling, which was the last major dance held indoors at Maggie Walker specifically. When asked what measures were taken to mitigate the risk of spread, Wu responded that “[they] stressed the importance of staying home and monitoring personal symptoms” because “health and safety take precedence.” Brewer, who enjoyed the dance, says that she did not remember anyone around her at the dance seeming sick, and she felt safe. She did comment that the food preparation didn’t feel COVID-safe because of how it was placed so out in the open, so she and her friends avoided the food to prevent getting sick.

Overall, the dance was a great success due to the hard work of the sophomore class officers, the sophomore sponsor, and many parent volunteers.