By Oliver Gable
Staff Writer
Although there were minor conflicts with this year’s Mira Costa Winter Formal, the Associated Student Body is not to blame, as its event was planned far in advance.
Winter Formal took place on Feb. 7 at Fisherman’s Village in Marina Del Rey. Several students were upset by the timing of this year’s formal, due to scheduling conflicts, but there were not enough conflicts to justify changing the date. Many students were critical toward ASB, which was undeserved because the dance was planned a year prior.
Formal is scheduled using the same calendar as the previous year. The date for formal is selected a year early in order to prevent scheduling conflicts, but a major sporting event was planned on the same day as Formal after ASB had already set the final date. ASB should not be held responsible for these conflicts that resulted in some students’ inability to attend the dance.
Timing of the formal resulted in a conflict with a Costa boys’ varsity basketball home game at 7:30 p.m. According to ASB Activities Director Lisa Claypoole, two players complained about the timing of the dance. While upset that the players would be unable to attend, she felt that the conflict was not enough to justify changing the night of Formal.
This conflict did not affect enough students to warrant changing the date, which would have created additional problems such as a rise in ticket pricing. Claypoole and ASB handled the situation appropriately, as ASB’s events should continue to accommodate the majority of students, rather than a few.
According to Claypoole, planning formal closer to its date of occurrence could help eliminate any future similar conflicts. However, this causes pricing uncertainty. Booking the yacht closer to the event would result in increased prices for tickets. By booking in advance, ASB is able to keep ticket prices reasonable for everyone attending, while establishing a finalized date early enough for other organizations on campus to work around.
One of the more significant issues with the date of Winter Formal was that the February ACT test was scheduled for the Saturday morning following formal. Although Claypoole stated that all students who attended the dance would be home at a reasonable hour provided that they go home immediately after, most test prep agencies advise their students to stay home and not take part in any stimulating activity the night before standardized testing.
With these test dates being released almost two years in advance, ASB should not have planned the event for the night before the ACT. Considering a large portion of Costa students take these tests, ASB should take standardized testing into consideration when scheduling the dates of future events.
Students should not be criticized ASB for conflicts with winter formal due to ASB’s advanced planning. Although it is unfair to blame it for conflicts caused by other organizations on campus, avoiding ACT and SAT conflicts would be beneficial in the future.
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