Every year Bellevue West holds the homecoming dance in the fall and prom in the spring. These dances are sponsored by specific clubs, like Student Council and Junior Senate.

This year, however, there was a Winter Formal put on independently by students.

“Many other schools have winter formals every year,” senior Justyce Henry said. “So we felt it was time Bellevue West had one too.”

Events like this are always difficult to plan and Henry faced many obstacles, especially because it was put on independently.

“Having a vision for an event isn’t hard at all, but it’s staying within a budget, that tends to make it tricky,” Henry said. “Since we definitely didn’t want to lose money, we decided to make most of the decorations by hand in order to spend excess money in other places such as refreshments.”

120 students attended the dance at Bellevue Junior Sports Association. Because of the venue’s capacity limit, only upperclassmen were able to attend.

In total, $515 were raised from ticket sales. Although the dance was not officially sponsored by a specific club, Henry hopes to help fund travel to the national DECA competition.

“Once we decided we were going to go through with it, we decided some of our proceeds could go to nationals in Anaheim, California,” Henry said.

Although the Winter Formal just occurred and prom is right around the corner, students enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of the dance, as opposed to the traditional prom activities.

“It’s more of a benefit to have a winter formal at this time because it’s right in between homecoming and prom,” senior Kyla Jackson said. “It’s not as formal as prom, so more people can go and have fun without pressure.”