“Will you go to formal with me?”
These are the words many high schoolers hope to hear from a special someone.
Although the winter formal was postponed this year, students are still in high spirits about going to the dance. The formposal competition was run by members of the Associated Student Body (ASB), similar to the annual promposal competition but for the Winter Formal instead. It involved students submitting themselves asking another student to formal for the possibility of winning free tickets.
Usually, the only proposal competition is for prom, but this year, senior Katelyn Nightengale and her team organized a competition for formal as well.
“We thought the competition would create more excitement around the event,” Nightengale said.
There are many different ways to formpose. Some could ask the simple question, while others might make an elaborate plan. Posters, balloons, scavenger hunts, and other methods were used by participants for the competition this year.
One formposal this year was done at Disneyland.
“Let’s light it up @ formal!” read sophomore Chloe Chun’s message on a balloon for her boyfriend while at Disneyland.
This formposal plan was a happy accident for Chun.
“I was originally going to Disneyland for DECA [Distributive Education Clubs of America] and my date was going there for vacation so I thought it’d be the perfect idea to formpose there,” Chun said.
When a couple is dating, a formposal may be expected because they are assumed to be going together, but students still found a way to surprise their partners, such as sophomore Kevin Tomita.
“It was very unexpected since we had already bought the tickets. Even while I was doing the scavenger hunt I didn’t even realize it was a formposal until the end,” Tomita said.
On the other hand, some couples liked to have a formposal even if they already planned to go together.
“I think it’s important to ask someone to a dance even if you are already dating them,” said senior James DiMartino.
Many formposals were a lovely surprise, while others were anticipated, but they all left a shimmering smile on both the receiver and giver.
“I loved my formposal because it was so cute and sweet,” said Savannah Velschow, a senior. “I was expecting to be asked by Sasha [Belov] because she is a great friend, and we both wanted to go together.”
The organizers wanted to make sure everyone could get involved and enjoy the competition even if they weren’t part of it.
“When planning this competition, we wanted to work mostly through social media,” Nightengale said. “This way we would get more student involvement in the competition and interaction with the formposals.”
Even though you don’t have to have a date to go to the winter formal, we thought the competition would create more excitement around the event and allow the students a chance to win free tickets.
— Katelyn Nightengale
This year, the winners of the formposal competition got a refund on their tickets, saving up to $55 each. The DJ announced the winners during the Winter Formal, with senior Keya Arora and DiMartino’s Beach Day formposal winning.
“I was pretty happy, but the win was never a doubt,” DiMartino said.
