Written By: Delaney Cordes, Staff Writer
EVENTS: Dancing the night away at March Air Field Museum.
Every year, towards the end of January or the beginning of February, Poly hosts an annual Midwinter dance for students to dress up, hang out, and enjoy time with friends in a different way than the campus atmosphere provides. ASB (Associated Student Body) students, along with Mrs. Douty, the ASB director, spend months planning and executing the dance each year for all students and staff who attend, from a theme to a venue, decorations, and everything in between. For this school year, the Bears got to spend the evening of January 25, 2025, at the March Air Force Museum, enjoying the theme of “Fly Me to the Moon.” The museum was a perfect fit as attendees got to experience all the aviation paraphernalia and displays that were available to enjoy.
Though Midwinter is announced only a few weeks before the day of the dance, ASB is hard at work preparing and planning it. Mrs. Douty, the ASB director of 15 years, explained that “[they] don’t work with an outside event planner and do all the coordinating on [their] own” to help keep costs low and save money. All the ASB members help participate in creating the dance each year, but the executives have more specific roles and responsibilities alongside Mrs. Douty that they have to accomplish. As one of four ASB Vice Presidents, Senior Cora Holmes’ position requires her to order, sort, and arrange all the centerpieces and the small details. She brought up how “[ASB is] thinking about it for a lot longer than most people are.” Along with the aviation displays that the museum already has displayed, ASB also had to coordinate with vendors to provide photo booths for pictures, a DJ for the dance floor, silent disco headphones, and a seating area for people to be able to take breaks while at the dance.
When it comes to the dance itself and appealing to everyone from freshmen to seniors, administrators, and staff, Frida Blass (12), the Vice President of Activities, commented, saying they have to find the balance and “not try to make a theme cater to one audience too much” and “open [it] up a little more for everyone to enjoy.” Frida’s job with planning Midwinter required overseeing everything and following the theme with decorations and flowers to ensure everything ran smoothly throughout the evening. With roughly 700 to 800 students in attendance this year, they had to appeal to everyone, regardless of what grade or age they were.
With ASB students’ involvement in planning and executing Midwinter, Mrs. Douty said she “enjoy[s] how much [they] get involved with it because [they’re] not using an event planner.” Many of the students who don’t have top executive positions are assigned to work on the venue, other decorations, themes, social media, and whatever else needs to be accomplished. After all is complete, everyone can dress up, enjoy the dance, and hang out with friends!