The 2022-2023 school year started off strong as the blacklight dance left students ecstatic on Sept. 9. The blacklight dance was flooded with students as they jumped to the music, took plenty of pictures and got to hangout with their friends and peers.  As the music, decorations and overall experiences change each year, we have interviewed a few TL students’ about their experiences  and their overall ratings afterwards as well as their expectations beforehand. 

Freshman Katie Malas expresses that “The Blacklight dance was everything I expected with the gym being dark, music very loud, and the decorations being glow in the dark.” For that being her first high school dance experience, Malassays, “Overall I think the dance was super fun and I would definitely go to more in the future.” 

As sophomore Sadie Jordan has gone to dances prior to this year’s blacklight she knows how good a well put together dance could be.   “I would say that I enjoyed freshman year’s blacklight more but overall I thought it was fun.” Having high expectations that weren’t all met she suggests that, “It probably would’ve been better to pick good mosh songs that people can jump to since all TL dances are basically just mosh pits.” 

Seniors Maddie Baird and Owen Daniels have both experienced the blacklight dance for the majority of their high school years. Maddie says “I thought it was pretty fun, ASB always does great with the decorations and I just like dances in general. Obviously it was super hot, so it was nice that we could go outside if we needed a break.” Baird had a positive experience and enjoys the school events where she gets to dance with friends and have a great time. Owen Daniels, gave an overall great review of the dance but indicated, “I had a great time at the dance with friends but the music kept pausing and the gym was extremely humid.” 

The Associated Student Body Senior President Hailey Gillespie and the ASB Director of Elections Jackson Pattani, worked together on setting up and hosting the Blacklight dance. On the day of the dance, it took ASB about 3-4 hours setting up the balloons, tarp and glow in the dark decorations. Prior to the event, it took about 2-4 weeks of planning.  Jackson states that, “Besides the mishaps with the music and the temperature of the gym being too hot, I would say that it was great.” Hailey adds “I think it went pretty good and everyone did a great job helping out throughout the process. The music was a bit of a complaint, but it’s hard to please everyone.” 

After hearing reviews from both students and from those who had a vast contribution into making this dance happen, we can see that the majority of students enjoyed the dance overall, and understood the conflicts around music and the heat.