A personal reflection.
February 2025
By Nancy Medina, Staff Reporter
What should have been a memorable high school experience became yet another “could’ve been” at KIPP Austin Collegiate. On December 19th, Sophia Hernandez and I, Nancy Medina, both seniors and leaders of the Social Studies Honor Society (Rho Kappa), made the difficult decision to cancel our Winter Formal, despite having put in months of preparation. Which segways the question: What went wrong?
As the person overseeing the event, and as the one reflecting on it now a month later, I wish I could offer a clear answer. In order to truly understand the situation, you must first know that when Sophia and I first considered hosting a school event in late October, the idea of a school dance had never crossed our minds. Our initial thoughts centered around a bake sale, something familiar and manageable, like the cookies or ice cream sales we had done before.
After confiding with our sponsor Ms.Corral, the AP Psychology teacher, about our mental block, she told us that Speech and Debate, which she also sponsors, was feeling just as stuck since their biggest fundraiser, the annual Winter Formal they had hosted for the past three years, was being canceled.
Sophia and I were immediately full of questions. Why had they decided to shut down this growing tradition? And more importantly, did this mean we had a chance to step in and host the event ourselves?
Ms. Corral then explained that in previous years, Speech & Debate had two co-captains to manage the organization, but this year, senior Nancy Perez was administering it on her own. While Ms. Corral had no doubt about Perez’s abilities, she didn’t want to add more stress to her plate, especially since they were in preseason and how tedious communicating with assistant principals can be.
After a brief discussion, I asked Ms Corral if there was any way I could work alongside Perez to bring this project back to life, and she said yes! Instantly, the four of us got back to work. We met every Monday and Wednesday during lunch to break down logistics. We discussed promotion, finances, attendance, aesthetics, safety, budgeting and acoustics. In addition to that, we were in between thanksgiving and christmas break, approaching the end of second semester. Meaning plenty of midterms, and for us seniors, the pressure of college applications.
Realizing we couldn’t do this alone, we reached out to our societies for support. With the help of 20 additional students, we hoped the event would come together much more easily. On November 17th, 2024, members of Rho Kappa and Speech and Debate gathered for our first meeting. The objective was clear: make Winter Formal come back to life.
To make this work, we divided ourselves into four committees each with 5 to 6 members: Marketing, Finance, Blueprint, and Decorations. Marketing was responsible for advertising via social media, finance for calculating profit and sales, blueprint for sketches of in school posters and banners, and decoration brought those sketches to life.
But complications quickly arose, particularly in the financial area. This school year, KIPP Austin Collegiate had gone entirely cashless. Meaning every transaction, from fundraisers to ticket sales, had to be done through digital wallets. However, the school also had a ban on personal technology, creating an immediate dilemma.
When we identified this problem it was the week of December 16-December 20th, the same week of the dance. By then, we had already hung huge banners on school walls, posted on three distinct social media platforms, been on the intercom, and on the homeroom slides. Yet, despite all these efforts, we were still waiting for APs to give us a solution on how to sell tickets.
Finally, on December 17th, just two days before winter break and three days before the dance, we were given a single QR code to handle ticket orders. Obviously, however, students can not screenshot QR codes using just their brain. To top it all off, Perez, Hernandez, Corral and I were abruptly given until friday to sell a minimum of 60 tickets or else winter formal would have to be canceled. Us officers scurried to print and cut out hundreds of QR codes for students to take home. Ensuring to do everything we could to meet our professional and personal goals of making a profit and experiencing one last highschool dance.
Still, despite our meticulous planning and eager anticipation, Rho Kappa and debate sold far below the minimum sales required. We waited until the last second hoping things would turn around, but ultimately on December 19th during 8th period Sopia nd i shared the official news over the intercom that the dance was in fact canceled.
Surprisingly, as we walked back to our classrooms, we were stopped by no fewer than six students and teachers in the span of just two minutes, all asking, “But why?” It was as if our cancellation drew more attention than any of our months of planning or promotional efforts ever had. And that moment, that question, left us with a bigger one of our own: Why was the winter formal doomed a “flop” when it hadn’t even started?
The Cardinal Post 