Photo courtesy of HHS Stuco
The Hastings Senior High 2025 Winter Dance set for January 18th at the high school has been canceled. The dance was planned by student council with the goal of raising money to buy coats for local children in need. No administrators were available on that date and sponsor Jim Fielder decided not to reschedule.
Normally, student council confirms that an administrator can attend the dance when they pick a date, but this never occurred. The organizers reflected on the obstacles and successes of planning and it’s clear that while it had some positive moments, the lessons learned from this year’s experience will shape future planning efforts.
“[Student Council] has been working on this dance since November, and it’s one of our major events for the year, and if we couldn’t get it done in three months, trying to reschedule DJs, reserve gyms, get chaperones, and the turnaround time was not very good, so the rescheduling was actually on me. I just didn’t want to have another complication with the DJs and stuff like that,” Fielder said. “So I said next year if the student body wants to have one, then we’ll do it next year.”
Rescheduling the charity dance would have been ideal because of its vast benefits on the school and the Hastings community.
“I definitely think that we probably should have [rescheduled the dance], but it was also nice that we didn’t because we have another event. I mean, that’s coming from a craft show planning perspective, that we get more time planning the craft show, but I think that we definitely could have rescheduled it,” Buschow said.
The Make-A-Wish charity dance made a comeback last year after being canceled by former principal Thomas Szlanda in 2018. Reflecting on the lessons learned from last year’s event, Wheeler noted that there was room for improvement in the planning process.
“I think that doing it last year had a great impact, but I think for the first year, it was kind of like trial and error, since we definitely figured out a lot of things that we needed to do better,” Wheeler said.
This year’s planning was filled with the chairs working to improve from last year. The planning and execution of the dance brought about mixed feelings from the organizers. While some organizers were hopeful for a positive turnout, others had concerns.
“I would have hoped it would have gone well. I was concerned about the number that was actually going to go in the first place,” Fielder said. “I might have been surprised with the outcome, but when I polled my classes, ‘I’m not going, I’m not going. I don’t want to go, I’m going.’ So the number that I heard that was actually going to go was sort of low, but maybe we would have a really good time with that.”
Despite his early reservations, Fielder recognized that facing obstacles was inevitable. Scheduling conflicts, especially with other extracurricular activities might have contributed to a lower turnout. Almost every possible date for the dance had a number of activities that conflicted, stopping those students from attending the dance.
“I think, as with all activities, there’s some conflicts. I know that date hit show choir, so that was a number of students,” Fielder said. “So there were a number that weren’t able to get it in the first place, but I know there’s some interest in some of the students.”
While there was student demand for a dance, student council had concerns about attendance following less than ten percent of the student body participating last year. The best estimate gathered by the student council chairs was around 200 students would be interested in buying a ticket to the dance. Looking back, Fielder acknowledged that communication could have been more effective and looks to emphasize advertising in future activities.
“One [way we can improve in the future] is advertising, which I think we could have done a better job as the council of getting the word out that there was an actual dance. A lot of people weren’t even aware of it,” Fielder said. “So that would be something to get the word out, but you have to hit things that the student body is interested in. And at least talking with my classes, students in my classes that already knew, there just wasn’t an interest there.”
Timing also played a pivotal role in the decision to cancel the dance. Sophomore chair Hadley Buschow believed that the proximity of student councils upcoming craft show was one thing that made rescheduling challenging. Buschow is in student council and was also in charge of planning the Make-A-Wish dance that was cancelled.
“It’s so close to the craft show on March 29 and that is our next big, major event. Mr. Fielder decided that it would be best to focus on planning the craft show and figuring that out, rather than have to go back and refigure dates for the [winter] formal,” Buschow said.
Sophomore chair McKenna Wheeler supports having a dance that raises money for charity because of the vast impact the event can have.
“It brought a lot more positive to the community because we were donating the money to Salvation Army for kids without coats. It would have brought people together for the dance that could have a fun time together,” Wheeler said.
Community impact was another highlight of the event. Organizers appreciate the positive effect of the dance, particularly its charitable aspect.
“Last year, we raised some money for Make-A-Wish. So if we evaluated it by making some money and donation, we were successful there,” Fielder said. “I think the goal of the dance was not really necessarily designed to raise money as a fundraiser, that was a perk. If we measured it as being successful, like, getting the number of kids there, we probably should still be working on something like that.”
Rescheduling the charity dance would have been ideal because of its vast benefits on the school and the Hastings community.
“I definitely think that we probably should have [rescheduled the dance], but it was also nice that we didn’t because we have another event. I mean, that’s coming from a craft show planning perspective, that we get more time planning the craft show, but I think that we definitely could have rescheduled it,” Buschow said.
