12/12/2024- Winter Formal

December 12th, 2024- Winter Formal 2024

Introduction:

During this year’s Winter Formal, I took part as one of the point people in charge of organizing and managing the starry event. The whole process was quite volatile, as changes and new variables repeatedly popped up- but the entire team was quick on their feet and overcame the challenges faced!

Competency:

Theme 4: Public Relations and Forms of Communication- Be versatile and willing to understand your team members and help them to navigate resolving situations within the event (don’t just bark orders, lead & teach)

Event Participation:

Preparation:

Hana and I were assigned roles on November the 24th. Preparation for the event planning started with Hana taking the initiative to contact Ms. Dhillon about Winter Formal on the 26th whilst I started on our business plan. There wasn’t much to do at first as we didn’t know the details or specifics, but we then received a message that we were to attend the next grad council meeting at lunch on November the 27th– which was Grade 9 day coincidently.

On the 27th, we met at A102 during lunch. We were introduced to the committee and then went straight into the general outline of the event. I took notes on every group and room that was mentioned while Hana asked questions to go into further detail (Document Here). After the meeting, Hana created a form to decide the roles. At the same time, I was informed by Alexia & Morgan that we weren’t responsible for decor for Winter Formal; as last year it took lots of manpower and time for an event organized by Grad Council. So, I sent a quick email to Ms. Rioux and during the Grade 9 Afterschool Event I confirmed with Ms. MacPhearson that we are not responsible for cleanup or decoration. I posted on teams later that day announcing that decor was cancelled.

Starting on the 2nd of December and up until the day of the event, I regularly worked on changing roles, responsibilities, and info about the event as new information kept coming in. I tried reaching out to both councilors involved in organizing Winter Formal; however, Ms. Dhillon was away and Mr. Nelson, I assume, was swamped with work to reply. I ended up getting updated information from a Grad Co. member as well as Ms. Rioux. I would say about more than half of the roles were changed and swapped from the forms being released to the day of the event.

The meetings we had on December 4th and 11th mostly consisted of us debriefing what exactly each role does and swapping jobs around. I was open to changes and opinions as I wanted to listen and understand the team more to both potentially promote chemistry as well as play to their individual strengths and weaknesses. For example, Alice swapped roles with Angelina because Angelina had strengths in cards whilst Alice was not. Being an active listener to my teammates, I believe I was able to gather a positive relationship with the rest of the team. Other than what was stated above, there was not much prep to be done as this event was more of a “on-the-day-of” type of assignment.

During Day of Event:

On December 12th, the day of Winter Formal, I arrived around 6:30pm. I checked all the rooms and talked to some Grad Co members about exactly what was going to happen in each room to get a rundown. I did this as I both wanted to be able to generally know each room to teach other breakers and, I believe as a leader, you should at least know the basics of each role you are organizing; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that you are commanding others when you don’t have a clue what the battlefield (Casino 🪖) even looks like.

The first problem presented was that Alice did not know how to use the popcorn machine. I would’ve taught her if I knew, as I wanted others to get more comfortable in their roles/rooms; but I did not have a clue. So, I brought Elaine over to guide Alice through the process. Afterwards I visited the games room as Brandon was not sure about how to operate a Nintendo Switch. I understood that he wasn’t knowledgeable about the game system. So, I went in to help resolve the problem by teaching him the basics of controller care/usage and how to turn the system on as well as charging and handling. He also asked to switch shirts as he thought his size was too large. As I was versatile and willing to understand, I swapped shirts on the spot to increase his morale and comfortability in taking on an essentially solo role.

Afterwards, Ms. Rioux announced a debrief was happening around 6:50 in her room, so I went to inform other students. However, when I got to Casino- Bahar stated that we needed another table as well as stating 2 additional roles must be filled. I assisted with crafting the improvised table and setting up chairs. Next, Bahar explained that the teachers were the dealers- not students. Leadership was now to understand the poker chip system (i.e how many chips per ticket) as a clerk as well as shuffling cards and essentially being an assistant dealer. However, David ended up dealing as Ms. Olujic let him (foreshadowing his commitment to his original role). By the time we finished the table and Bahar’s instructions, Ms. Rioux’s debrief was over and people started flooding into the school.

Hana came up to the casino to brief me about the meeting; mostly how the breakers system would work and info regarding breaks. I relayed to all casino members then left to head to the rooms. The next issue was that Foods was unsure about what to do. People were coming in and asking about food and the students handling the food didn’t know what they were expected to do exactly. I went into the rooms to hear the concerns/question- the most pressing issue was how to serve food and when it would arrive. I then went to find any teachers responsible for Foods to ask the questions. I asked Mr. Nelson if we were serving food or letting students take it themselves- the answer was self-service and Leadership expected to help refill the food. I started breaking for people for dinner when the coat check was done. I went to the crafts room to cover for Laia first. I talked with Marta about the room, how not many people came, and that most people (including me) thought she was 11th grade/above. I took note that crafts are probably not going to be featured next year- since it was unpopular. After Laia came back I covered for Marta and talked to Laia about ideas for the next Winter Formal- but Laia is not coming back next year as she is returning to Spain 😿. Afterwards, Alexia came down from Casino since Morgan liked the clerk job and Alexia didn’t like the noise. We went around seeing who we could break or help but most people were fine since they didn’t need one/already took one. So, we both went to take our dinner break. We noticed that some students were taking a long time with their break, and I understood that Rachel/Epshie wanted to get off the roles they were covering- so Hana and I hushed them back to their roles.

The latter half was mostly Alexia and I cleaning up leftover food/cans, as well as delivering food/water to people refusing to leave their posts for breaks (i.e David & the breakers with the clerk job). Personally, I hated cleaning up the food and cans as I did not see a single empty plate- only plates and cans essentially untouched (my pet peeve is wasting food). We also had to find a replacement for Ms. Olujic as she was supposed to leave half an hour earlier- so we got Ms. Kim to swap in for her. Throughout the event I also took pictures of other students in their jobs as I wanted to be more of a team player. Near the end, Casino told me that they ran out of tickets- so I hurriedly found Mr. Nelson to bring more tickets to soothe the crowd waiting to cash out.

Cleanup/Concluding:

After the Winter Formal was over, I helped clean up the casino area with Ray. We took down chairs and tables as well as picking up any trash on the floor/tables. Afterwards, I helped bag check with takedown of the room. I was technically free to go, but I was willing to understand my teammates and teachers request for help- so I stayed behind to ensure efficiency in resolving the situation at hand. At first, we stuffed the bags into boxes, then Ms. Chan informed us that we needed to fold them neatly- but then we were finally told that the school didn’t need the bags 😔. So, we ended up just stuffing the boxes and bag with all the other bags. We also moved all the tables back into their original formation and moved some desks out into the hall. We left about 10:30pm that day.

During the leadership meeting afterwards, I organized and wrote down the feedback form with my team as Hana was away at the last minute.

Actions Taken & Evidence:

Helped Brandon with setting up the Switch in the games room and swapped shirts

Instead of telling Brandon to just “manage the games room”, I went to check with him so I could understand what he needed to know to do his job. I guided him on the basics of operating a Nintendo Switch to assist him in navigating his issue with the job so both of us could have our jobs run more smoothly. I was also versatile with handling requests as I didn’t see any harm in swapping shirts, and it would ultimately end in a win-win situation since he’s more comfortable in his job and I am comfortable knowing his morale has improved.

2. Casino’s jobs were changed on the spot, another table was set up, and new job positions opened

When I came, I immediately tried to understand the problem the casino students had. The issue was that a new table was to be made, and roles would be changed/created. I was then versatile with my job as I assisted in making the table and setting the chairs up. my teammates on setting up the table as well as grasping the new roles and its poker chip system. The main point was that it costs 2 chips per ticket, and that if someone were to have an odd number of chips it would be rounded up to the nearest even number. I asked some questions to further understand the Casino clerk role and had Angelina & Ethan assigned to the clerk table.

3. After Winter Formal was officially over, I stayed behind helping my peers as I didn’t want to only tell others to do their job; but to actively be a positive contribution to resolving the situation.

I had been planning on leaving since Winter Formal ended and I already helped with cleaning up the premises- but I was also willing to hear out my teammates and help if needed. I also non-verbally understood that almost everybody in that room had block 1 to deal with the next day since they were my classmates and teachers. I joined in immediately when they asked for assistance. Working on the ground with my teammates instead of sitting around barking orders is what I believe I should do as a leader as shown by taking extra consideration in staying behind to help.

Pictures:

<– Setting up improvised table 🎰