After much fanfare and a captivating basketball shootout, the Associate Student Body revealed this year’s prom location as taking place at the San Jose Tech Museum on Saturday, April 18.
According to Junior Class Vice President Chris Chen, the location was picked for its convenient location and wide range of assorted activities.
“Being a tech museum, there will be many activities for students who don’t wish to spend the entire night dancing,” Chen said. “In addition, the exhibits that require museum staff members will be run as well, like the popular virtual reality exhibit.”
Though prom and the end of the school year are rapidly approaching, ASB doesn’t want the prom announcement to overshadow the events they have planned in the meantime. ASB Vice President Benjamin Knopper said that multiple events are being planned for the month of February alone.
“We have Love Week, Club Day two, Skoglobe and an anti-vaping fishbowl discussion (coming up),” Knopper said. “We also have plenty of new and returning events for the rest of the semester, including an all-new carnival.”
According to Knopper, Skoglobe is the event to mark on your calendar this next month: Feb. 26 to 28 during lunch.
“I’m very excited for Skoglobe,” Knopper said. “Skoglobe is a couple of days of Quadcerts (concerts) and activities, and it should be a blast. I’m hoping we see a return of OBTBTB (Oscar’s Band Tribute Band Tribute Band) as well as some other Paly bands, but you’ll have to go to Skoglobe to find out.”
Another upcoming event is Tea with Teachers, where students get to sit down with their teachers and become better acquainted over a preferred drink of their choice.
“It’s a great time to get to know teachers,” Chen said. “Having a more personal relationship and forming a bond with them is good as it makes teachers appear more ‘human,’ rather than what students sometimes perceive them as. Think of it like introducing yourself to a new adult, or an opportunity to make a new friend.”
Spirit Commissioner Emma Lin said that new events are also in the works, with one spanning the entire week of April 13 to 17.
“ASB is taking a stab at planning a Spring Fling week this year,” Lin said. “At most other schools, Spring Fling is a bit like Spirit Week is at Paly. Since it’s the first time we’re trying it at Paly, we aren’t super optimistic that there would be enough hype for people to dress up every day and participate in grade-level competitions, so we are currently working on planning events that people would be incentivized enough to participate in.”
Currently, these incentives include ideas like Spikeball and dodgeball tournaments by grade level, night “Quadcerts” and a joint Paly-Gunn rally.
“These events are all tentative, but (ASB is) looking forward to planning out a more concrete itinerary,” Lin said.
Aside from one-time events, ASB will be starting an information campaign this semester in an effort to keep student bathrooms cleaner. This effort would benefit the custodians and the student population, according to Knopper, who is leading the ASB collaboration with the custodial team in an effort to end the facilities’ destruction. Knopper said some of these damages are the empty metal frames that line the sinks, their glass surfaces long since shattered by unruly students.
“We are hoping to work with the custodial team to find ways to discourage students from vandalizing the bathrooms,” Lin said. “We are going to introduce to the student body the people who are having to deal firsthand with (students’) inconsiderate behavior.”
While the success of this initiative remains to be seen, ASB plans to build on the success of their nighttime dodgeball tournament last semester, and a nighttime event in the future.
According to Knopper, the event was a success. He said there was uncertainty about how many students would show up after hours, but the turnout was high.
“We had an attendance of around 90 to 100 people, and everyone who wanted to play was allowed to,” Chen said. “While maybe not the same intramural tournament in the future, we are planning more events with dodgeball and are waiting on admin to permit our use of the gym.”
Even with the popularity of the tournament, the chances of ASB hosting another event are low.
“As of right now, there aren’t any concrete plans to host nighttime dodgeball particularly again, but it is the type of event we are thinking of incorporating into Spring Fling Week,” Lin said. “I’m really excited about nighttime intramural tourneys, and as long as student behavior continues to improve, I don’t see any reason we would discontinue them.”
