After 15 years without a winter formal at Oak Park and River Forest High School, the Student Council and activities director are in the midst of preparing to bring back the popular dance–if they determine there is enough student interest. If plans go forward, the 2025 Winter Formal will take place on Feb. 22.
The Winter Formal first fell out of favor with the OPRF community due to the event being too gendered, according to Angela Hawkins, the student activities director at OPRF. “I think at some point it turned into, because it was around Valentine’s Day, a ‘Mr. OPRF’ concept, which is not something we’re trying to do,” she said. “So now we’re just trying to figure out what would make this an exciting event.”
Students expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of a winter formal. “We have decided to bring back the winter dance because the student body has vocalized their desire to have another school dance,” said Caroline Vietzen, current senior and the 2024-2025 Student Council president. “Bringing back the dance has been quite a long process, and we are so excited to finally have this opportunity.”
Many members of the student body are excited by the prospect of a dance, including current senior Franny Byrne. “I feel like for most people there’s only one dance a year, and that’s homecoming. I think that it would be really exciting to have something to look forward to in the winter as well because everyone’s all stressed with finals, and it would just be very fun to be able to have a break from that stress,” said Byrne.
Excitement is not the only factor taken into consideration during planning. “The reason we tend to be reluctant about a winter formal is attendance,” said Hawkins. “We’re part of the West Suburban Conference, and I meet with the activities directors once a month, and something that has been an issue at the other schools is students after Homecoming will want another dance, but then when the winter dance shows up, like 300 people will attend.”
In an attempt to prevent low attendance and provide Student Activities with an accurate number of interested students, the OPRF Student Council is currently in the process of creating an interest survey for the student body in order to gauge the number of students the winter formal will need to accommodate.
If the Student Council is able to gauge an accurate number of interested students, preferably about 100 students per grade level, the dance would take place in February 2025.
“The Student Council has envisioned the winter dance to be similar to Homecoming in the sense of the atmosphere at the dance being similar and a spirit week during the week leading up,” said Vietzen. “However, we are thinking of a winter theme rather than picking a Homecoming theme, such as ‘Tangled’ or disco. This theme will be basically a winter wonderland.”
Once the theme is established, a DJ will need to be secured, Campus Safety and Security will need to be briefed on the event and the Buildings and Grounds department will have to be notified as this event was not previously on their calendar. Finally, depending on the expected turnout of the event, a final venue will be secured. The tentative venue is the field house. However, if larger numbers are expected an outdoor venue is being noted as a possibility.
No matter where or when the Winter Formal takes place, OPRF is certainly excited at the prospect of bringing a bit of cheer to the winter quarter.
