The annual Back-to-School dance is an event that many students at Prep look forward to every year. Due to COVID last year, there weren’t any school events, including the Back-to-School dance. Because of this, the attendance for the 2021 dance had around 600 students, which was the most amount of people to attend, in at least the last 10 years. For most, the dance lived up to, or exceeded its standards, even with the fact that everyone had to be masked up.  

COVID was a large issue that surrounded the dances outcome. Mr. Stearns, Dean of Students, had to ensure everyone’s safety by taking some COVID precautions. Mr. Stearns stated, “Luckily, nearly everyone at Prep is vaccinated. That fact gave us the confidence to hold the dance. To increase our safety, we insisted that everyone wear masks.” Students followed the guidelines Mr. Stearns set and everyone made it out of the dance safely.  Lily O’Donoghue McDonald, class of ’22 and member of ASB, expresses how, “A few weeks out, we (ASB) thought that not wearing masks might be an option, but I think wearing them, was the best way to keep everyone safe and still have fun, and everyone did a great job at wearing them too!” 

From Lily’s standpoint on ASB she exclaimed that, “The dance was definitely a success. Everyone I talked to said they had a great time, and I think the beach balls and other tropical decorations were a big hit again.” Traditionally the Back-to-School dance is themed “Tropical”, so ASB decided it would be good to stick to Prep’s roots and potentially bring back some old memories for the upperclassman, from their first dances. The dance was held on the backfield to keep ventilation but there was also an area inside the gym for students to lounge. On the backfield there were tons of blow ups and plenty of tropical decorations while inside the gym, students could sit on the bleachers, play ping pong, cornhole, or draw on some white boards. Lily brought up another great point about having the dance outside, “We were able to appreciate some of last nice weather for a while!” Not only did having the dance on the backfield keep everyone safe, but it also allowed for everyone to watch a great sunset and soak up the last bits of some warm weather. 

“I really enjoyed the Back-to-School dance, I thought it was a cool way to kick off the school year.” Sophomore Dane Hansen remarked. For the upperclassman, this was their first or second back to school dance, while for the sophomores and freshman it was their first one. “I think this dance would have been different for me as a freshman because I wouldn’t have known as many people. Knowing lots of people didn’t make it awkward or weird.” He admitted. Dane felt that missing his freshman Back to School dance had its perks and disadvantages. Disadvantages being that he didn’t get the full freshman year experience. Perks being that, for the sophomore year back to school dance, he already knew his classmates and didn’t have to worry about awkward first meetings or not knowing who to talk to. For freshman Clara Henzke, the dance exceeded her expectations. “I thought it was going to be really awkward the whole time, but it definitely wasn’t. It was a great opportunity to get to know more people in my grade.”  

Overall, the Back-to-School dance was a big win for the Seattle Prep community. After a year of staying inside away from their peers, the students were safely brought together again for a tropical, fun-filled evening.