This year’s prefect dance, a longstanding tradition that serves to acclimate freshmen to campus and allow them to get to know their peers and senior prefects beyond the classroom, was held on the evening of Friday, Sept. 10 on the senior green and the turf.
The dance was organized by this year’s 14 senior prefects who are led by senior Head Prefect Stella Risinger. Stella was passionate about holding the prefect dance this year after remembering her own so fondly. “We really wanted [the dance] to happen, so we decided to go for it,” Stella said. “We chose a 90s theme, we bought some decorations, and we got Mr. Baker’s sound speaker.”
This event which, in years past, has been a traditional themed school dance held in the cafeteria, transitioned this year into an outdoor event as a result of COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Though many senior prefects were nervous about the changes that had to be made to the annual event, as they wanted the freshmen’s first KO social experience to be a great one, the perfect dance ended up being a success. The freshmen enjoyed listening to music while savoring their catered Moe’s dinner, as well as playing games like Capture the Flag, Cornhole, Kan Kam, and Spikeball.
“I was really happy to hear the freshmen say they had a lot of fun,” senior prefect Ashely Taffe said. “After the event, I went up to a group to talk to [freshmen] and they were really happy which, in turn, made me happy.”
The freshmen found this dance to be very helpful in acquainting them with both their fellow freshmen and their senior prefects. “During the social, a lot of us were on the turf, and it was really nice because everyone was with everyone,” freshman Ysabel Albert said. “We were all hanging out with each other and getting to know each other.”
Freshman Maya Gerrits agreed and noted how she will take away many fond memories from this event. “After a while of sitting around and socializing, people began to spread out and move onto the turf, where I remember trying to kick footballs into the field goal,” she said, “and most of us failed because we have never played before, which was something to laugh about together.”
Form 3 Dean and science teacher Kata Baker appreciated how great the senior prefects were in helping get the freshmen to have fun with one another. “We had a couple of kids that were sitting alone for dinner,” she said, “and I went over to the prefects and said ‘Let’s get a game of Capture the Flag going to get everyone up and moving,’ so they went onto the turf and played a good game of Capture the Flag with everyone, which was really great to see.”
By all accounts, this non-traditional dance was a huge success and a truly enjoyable experience for all. Hopefully, next year’s freshman class will get to experience the same amount of fun getting acquainted with KO as the class of 2025 did.
