Disco’s Not Dead! It’s Right Here at SEM

By Katherine F.

On Friday Nov 4, students at Buffalo Seminary and their guests were invited to dance the night away at “Boogie Wonderland,” an entirely student-led dance held in the school gym and Atrium. As one may have guessed, the theme was disco, so many students came donned in their finest sequins and sparkles ready to jive.

The idea of the dance came from the Junior health and leadership class, taught by Ms. Stothart. Faith, ’24, recalls, “Ms. Stothart asked our Junior health classes how we want to be remembered and what sets our class apart from others. Our class has a lot of school spirit and energy, so she suggested we plan something to potentially become a tradition. We decided on a dance, so we created a committee of juniors and seniors.”

The members of the aforementioned committee included Kaya ’24, Melaina ’24, Juanita ’24, Faith ’24, Katherine ’23, AJ ’23, Sunshine ’23, Olivia ’23, and Meara ’23. The committee took the reigns with organizing, planning, budgeting, and decorating for the dance, yet, they were assisted by the all of the Juniors as part of their health and leadership class, along with Ms. Stothart who said, “I am that one person who is working with each committee member, the food, the entertainment, the decorations, purchasing, budgeting, permission forms, and connecting all of those people with each other, but also with the appropriate departments.”

A few other staff members also played a crucial role in the dance. According to committee member Olivia ’23, “ Mr. Embler was a huge help in putting up the disco ball and other decor and making sure the gym was clean and well prepared for our students and their guests. Mr. Valdez put in his helping hand to safely return the disco ball and Ms. Merrell helped us all when working through purchases and paperwork.” A few staff members, Nurse Kim, Alex S., Ms Kimmet, and Grace C. actually attended the dance as well to serve as chaperones. However, at its core it really was a dance by the students and for the students. Besides the massive amount of time that students dedicated to blowing up over 300 balloons, searching for the perfect disco ball, and tracking down a photobooth, they were also the ones who ultimately brought the energy and enthusiasm that truly make a dance successful. One committee member, Meara ’23, observed, “I think the dance went really well and was the best homecoming dance we’ve had with the most amount of students attending.” Committee member Faith ’24 agreed stating, “I think it was a huge success! The main objection was to make something fun, and I believe everyone who attended had a great time.” It really was a boogie wonderland!