Taft Charter High School has not held a Winter Formal in years and ASB was prepared for it. The event was going to take place Saturday, February 10th from 7-10pm at Encino Banquet Hall & Garden.

Tickets were being sold at lunch for $50 from January 17-26, $75 from January 29 – February 7, and $100 from February 8-9. However, the event got canceled on January 24 because there weren’t enough tickets sold due to high prices.

When ASB members were initially asked how they felt about the event, many were excited and were looking forward to seeing their hard work become a success.

ASB president Thalia Agopian said, “I am really excited for the Winter Formal because Taft has not held one in years. ASB has been working to make this a successful and fun event for students.”

ASB historian Mia Gershfeld felt similarly, “I think the event would be great— Winter Formal is an amazing way for those who cannot attend prom (either due to affordability or grade level) to still be able to attend a formal dance without the same requirements.”

The ASB members here at Taft had already invested a considerable amount of work into the event.

Agopian noted, “We have a nice venue and great decorations planned for it and with the help of Lilly [Leonhardt, ASB vice President], we toured the venue together to see if we’d like to hold the dance there. Together with ASB we chose our theme. I helped to reach out to vendors for the dance. I have been selling tickets for the dance during lunch.”

Gershfeld added, “However, a lot of people are concerned about the price as it’s not something Taft has ever done before; homecoming, for example, is a cheaper and less formal occasion. These concerns are completely valid, but in my opinion, it is still worth the time and money. It is far more formal, has dinner provided, a live band, and many other aspects that our homecoming doesn’t have. Additionally, although more expensive than homecoming, it is much cheaper than many other schools who have a winter formal as well! So, overall, I think Winter Formal is great but unfortunately it is difficult to change certain traditions and try new things. ASB is now attempting to step outside of its comfort zone and try these new things to better the experience for the students at our school. Hopefully, people will be willing to give it a try!”

However, ASB students were not happy to find out that the Winter Formal got canceled.

ASB secretary Aly Govenar said, “I’m feeling conflicted about the winter formal being canceled. I was really excited for it and the planning we had done for it made me even more excited. However, people weren’t willing to buy tickets at the prices it required which eventually led to its cancellation. This was surprising because people had been asking for a formal event for years, but I guess they didn’t know what that entailed until we finally got it kicked off.”

Gershfeld added, “I feel like there was a misunderstanding between what the people thought they wanted and what they actually wanted. It sounded like they wanted another dance, not a winter formal. That’s really my only thought process. I’m not surprised it got canceled but I was hoping it wouldn’t be so we didn’t lose money.”

Overall, ASB members put a lot of effort into making this event a success but due to the lack of tickets sold it was canceled and many were not happy about it.

“We wouldn’t let this discourage us though,” Agopian said, “we still have events coming up!”