Earlier this semester, Blue Valley Northwest hosted the Sweetheart Dance after a year of its absence. This year as opposed to previous ones, Sweetheart Week includes many more festivities than just the dance implemented by the student government and pep club to boost participation. The student government board’s main focus this year was on promoting the dance and events surrounding Sweetheart Week.
Spirit week was interrupted on Feb. 12 by a snow day, which caused the dress-up days to get mixed up. The spirit themes included class color day on Monday, safari day on Tuesday, and the option of Zoom day (formal on top and pajamas on bottom) or Country vs. Country Club on Thursday.
The assembly was also moved to Monday from Thursday. This ensured that we would have a sweetheart assembly if school was canceled for the Super Bowl parade or a snow day. According to BVNW Stugo Sponsor Sarah Derks, the biggest setback this year was philanthropy, which came as a surprise to her due to student participation in previous years. With the snow days, Blue Valley Northwest was not able to collect the goal of hygienic products for charities around Overland Park.
“There isn’t a huge push for philanthropy. That’s something that I am pretty passionate about, and but for the past two years we have struggled as a school,” Derks said. “It is also hard because a lot of different clubs are asking for things this time of year.”
This year’s carnival was also new addition. The student government organized the carnival to raise funds for the Northwest clubs. Before the basketball game on Feb. 14, the clubs at Northwest created games. The revenue generated was distributed among the clubs based on the number of tickets sold and received.
Derks said out of everything in the week, the carnival was the most successful.
“I think [the carnival] is something we’ll definitely do again in the future, and if we could get more word out to our feeder schools, maybe we’ll even have a bigger turnout,” Derks said. “I think in general, it was a great fundraising opportunity [for clubs at Blue Valley Northwest].”
According to Derks, because of the carnival, the boys’ varsity basketball game had a great attendance. The sweetheart royalty was introduced during halftime but not announced until the dance.
Student government spent weeks ahead of time planning for the dance. They included a pre-decorating day to get decorations completed so set up was easier.
The theme for the dance this year was “Tangled in Memories”, inspired by the Disney movie “Tangled”. Different sections around the Blue Valley Northwest Gym and Commons were decorated after the locations of the movie. Student government went into the decorating process with the mindset of where people will be able to take pictures, which helped them create a fun atmosphere.
Blue Valley Northwest freshman Kalea Peterson went to the dance for the first time this year and said she had fun with her friends, even though there weren’t as many people as she expected.
“We had so much fun dancing and taking pictures at the school,” Peterson said. “I would love it if more people would come to the dance because it was amazing and so many people put effort into it.”
Similarly, it was BVNW Junior Bailey Fox’s first time going. She said she enjoyed the experience and wished she had attended more dances.
“The decorations were amazing. It was pretty cool. There needs to be a bigger turnout from now on. I really enjoyed it, and I think a lot of people did too and will if they come.” Fox said.
Despite the small turnout, Stugo will bring back the dance next year, and the goal is to attract a bigger audience. According to Derks, approximately 300 tickets were sold at the dance to make a profit, and about 150 people stayed at the dance the whole time.
“It was enough of a turnout to bring it back,” Derks said. “If it’s just for the underclassmen, or if it’s just to get seniors there for ten minutes, it is worth it.”
Derks said her and the other student government and Pep Club members were pleasantly surprised at the results of the week. They were left with a feeling of relief hearing others enjoyed their hard work.
“[The Sweetheart week] exceeded my expectations because for sweetheart, I always keep them fairly low,” Derks said. “ You kind of just go in with ‘I hope this works’ and this time it did.”
Next year, the student government is planning to keep the changes they made this year, including the carnival before the Friday night game and royalty crowning at the dance. Student Government is always looking for feedback after dances. Click on this link to help student government in future dances.
