In the movie “Elf,” during a snowball fight in Central Park, Buddy the elf rapidly assembles an arsenal of snowballs before hurling them toward the local children, who run away screaming in joy. Now imagine the scene without the bombardment of snowballs. The children awkwardly shrug and walk home—not the same holiday spirit.
At the Upper School (US), there once was a Snow Ball. Spearheaded by former Senior Class President Emily McGurn ’23, the Nicholas Athletic Center was transformed into a winter wonderland for the joint- grade, upperclassmen semi-formal on Jan. 20, 2023. However, unlike Buddy’s colossal supply of snowballs in his epic fight scene, the Snow Ball was a singular compensatory event for the senior class whose typical bonding experiences were largely canceled by COVID-19, including their Bivouac and Junior Prom.
While the Snow Ball was supposed to be one-and-done, when over 180 upperclassmen showed up, Student Council attempted to recreate the dance last winter. While the proposal made its way through Student Council, difficulty arose in deciding on a date, and the organizing for the event was ultimately cut short by the winter exams. Despite the dance-less winter this year and last, Junior Class President Jonathan Andreoli ’26 noted strong support for the
Snow Ball to make a return in 2026. “Last year, we did a survey, and people wanted a Snow Ball more than a homecoming dance. So next year, if we could have a Snow Ball and start planning it this year, that’s something that we definitely want to do.”
Senior Class President HaleyHicks ’25 agreed that the Snow Ball should fill the gap of homecoming and stressed the importance of getting next year’s planning started now.
“Going forward, the best plan of action would be to set it up for next year and make it an all-year thing,” she said. “Officially replacing homecoming with it means starting it up this year and planning it out so it has the gears and more time to find people to run it next year.”
When trying to plan a Snow Ball this year, Haley and Jonathan struggled to find a volunteer faculty advisor to help with event planning and administrative logistics.
“We haven’t yet found a faculty member willing to champion for the Snow Ball,” Haley said.
While Jonathan and Haley had also hoped to streamline organizing the event by working outside of Student Council, their plans were complicated by input from the senior class co-deans, who felt the event should be US-wide, meaning the proposal would have to go through the typical Student Council process to include all grades. Senior Class Co-Deans Leah Cataldo and Cecile Roucher-Greenberg said that it was the general consensus among all deans that the Snow Ball should return as a school-wide event.
“A school-wide event is the preference of all of the deans,” they wrote in a shared statement. “A school-wide event would create a sense of community, and it would unite the different grades in a positive and fun manner. Right now, we don’t have such kinds of events, like a homecoming dance, for instance.”
Dr. Cataldo and Mme. Roucher- Greenberg also said that a school- wide event would allow organizers to divide and complete tasks more efficiently.
“Although it might be difficult to have a bigger group to lead, make decisions, and organize how to put together a school-wide event, it also allows students to distribute the many required tasks to have the event approved and be successful Those tasks include writing a proposal, meeting with the school administration, booking a venue, contacting vendors, calculating the ticket price, and selling tickets,” they wrote. “Having it be a school- wide event also makes it less work for each person.”
Dean of Students Rory Morton ’81 is “all for” the return of a Snow Ball, he said. Although he doesn’t have a preference for an upperclassmen-only or school-wide event, he warned of the challenges of a four-grade event.
“Cross-grade events can be fun, provided they provide the opportunity for everyone to feel welcomed and able to take part in it,” he said. “However, they are tough to pull off. If you are talking about an event that involves the whole student body population— over 500 students—we don’t have a lot of spaces that can accommodate that size gathering.”
Student Body Co-President Aparajita Srivastava ’25 is also skeptical of the Snow Ball’s implementation as a US-wide dance.
“There were conversations about having it be a whole school semi- formal, which is just not possible right now,” she said. “You see assembly—it’s massive. Try putting all those students in fancy clothes, give them food, and get them dancing. Maybe it will be feasible in five years if we figure this out, but it’s not feasible now.”
While the Student Council Constitution prohibits any representatives of Student Council from disclosing proposals before they’ve been enacted, Aparajita said the Council’s recent silence is the result of a school-wide proposal planned for this spring.
“There is something new coming during Senior Spring Project for the whole school … If you haven’t heard anything about us in the fall, it’s because we are working on something big.”
