Walking in a winter wonder dance

NHS hosts Winter Wonderland dance for students

Students invited to the Winter Wonderland dance were met at the door by smiling National Honor Society students handing out glow stick bracelets as the special guests of the evening walked along the blue carpet edged with “snow.” The music was ready to go, DJ’d by none other than business education teacher James Hood. Students were eager to hit the dance floor.

This is the fourth year that NHS hosted a dance for students across Wylie Independent School District.

Each year the cafeteria is transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with a photo booth, food and the main attraction, the dance floor.

“He’s been to this the last couple years and he loves it,” special guest Joshua’s mother, Beckie Minihan, said. “His favorite part is definitely the dancing. He won’t sit down the whole night. The NHS students are really involved with the kids.”

This year the picture area had a big banner with the famous Frozen character Olaf, the talking snowman. The rest of the cafeteria was unrecognizable with snowflakes strewn across every surface and a big Winter Wonderland banner on display.

“I think [the dance] went wonderful,” NHS historian Michelle Luu said. “The decorations are beautiful. People worked so hard yesterday even though there were only two hours to build snowflakes. It was like a snowflake machine after school.”

The music was thumping as songs such as “Cupid Shuffle,” “Chicken Dance,” and “Hokey Pokey,” played over the loud speakers. The dance floor was constantly filled with people moving to the beat and dancing their hearts out.

“Everyone was having fun, people were getting out of their comfort zones,” Luu said. “It’s kind of interesting to see other sides of people. Some of our outgoing people were greeting and just took the students in.”

Although this dance is about the student invited, everyone seems to have fun letting loose on a Friday night. This dance can mean a lot to the guests, but the NHS students also take a piece of the dance with them when they leave.

“It was really humbling. We thought more about their happiness than our own,” NHS vice president Ivy Laporte said. “This is much more fun than any of the other dances all year. It makes me feel really, really awesome that you can give theses students that happiness and experience it with them. It’s fun to make memories with the guests which makes the experience even better for them. The dance was really awesome. It was better than prom and I’m happy I got to be a part of it.”

The dance is planned by the NHS president and vice president who this year is Nate Porter and Ivy Laporte respectively. After the initial planning, NHS members rush to sign up for the dance during the meeting held a week before. The Winter Wonderland Dance is the biggest event NHS hosts the entire year.

“Our NHS students do this completely for service,” NHS sponsor Michelle Lindsay said. “Unlike prom, it’s not about them at all. It’s about serving someone else and giving them a dance. They have more fun doing that and seeing the students have fun.”

Life Skills teachers attended the dance along with their students, giving them the opportunity to get a glimpse of them at a high school dance.

“All the kids look forward to this [dance],” life skills teacher Caryn Seed said. “Some of them went out and got outfits so they were ready to go for tonight. I love seeing the kids having fun outside of the classroom. It makes me happy to see the NHS students dancing and getting along with the students invited.”

Parents also sat along the outskirts of the dance floor, cheering and taking pictures as their sons and daughters danced and laughed.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you [NHS] this is what all of them look forward to all year. This is the only dance they go to,” Miniham said. “This is a good opportunity for the kids to work on their social skills. It lets them get out and be a part of something. They just have fun.”

The night is filled with a chorus of laughter, cheering and music. The dance finally wound down at 9 p.m. with the final song being the Frozen hit, “Let it go.” The guests said their goodbyes and the NHS members went to work on cleaning up the dance.

“I think the dance went amazingly and compared to last year it was even better which is hard to believe, because last year was awesome,” NHS treasurer Kayleigh Castillo said. “This went really well. All the kids who came seemed to love it and it was great. It’s a great feeling to interact with the students invited and I really love doing that. Just looking at their happy faces I know that I helped make that. It makes me feel even better knowing that this is their brightest moment of the year. This dance for them is how prom is for me. I just know that I’m delighted and excited the entire night.”