This year’s sophomore semi-formal will take place on Oct. 21, which is nearly a month earlier than last year’s dance held on Nov. 19.

Vice President of the Class of 2020 Ryan Urato said that the decision for the earlier date was based purely off of logistics.

“There were a lot of different [factors] that led to the [decision] of a semi date,” Urato said. “The main thing was to have it before swim season, but we were also trying to work it around soccer playoffs and also find a date that did not have a crew meet. But the main reason was trying to get it done before swim season.”

Another difference in the date is this year’s semi will be taking place on a Saturday instead of the traditional Friday.

“[Semi] is usually on a Friday, but I don’t think we even realized that was the tradition,” Urato said. “Saturday makes more sense logistically because more people are free, and we can set it up longer in the afternoon.”

During their freshmen year, the Class of 2020 had multiple fundraisers to reduce the future costs of semi tickets. The most notable of these fundraisers was the sweatshirt sale, in which custom Wayland High School sweatshirts were sold to the entire freshmen class. The sale, which raised over $1,100, was a key part of Urato’s goal to make tickets to semi inexpensive. The price of this year’s semi tickets were lower than last year’s, reduced from $35 to $30.

“We found the ticket price of $30 based on our funding, how much we wanted to help subsidize with the ticket prices and how much we wanted to save towards a cheap prom,” Urato said. “Although it is a lower price than last year, it ended up being on the higher side because people wanted to save more for prom.”

Students had differing opinions about this year’s new semi date. Sophomore Ethan Betancourt noted he’d “rather [have] it be later.”

Sophomore Mallory Leonard had a different opinion.

“I think it’s a good thing, [semi] being so early, [since] it gives everyone something to look forward to,” Leonard said. “I think it’s a good day. Maybe some people might be sad to give up their Saturday, but semi is a one time thing.”

For Betancourt, the downside for semi being a month earlier was that he had to scramble to find a date.

“People were asking people [to semi] early, and that pressured me into asking someone early,” Betancourt said. Betancourt mentioned he would rather have semi in the middle of November.

Both Leonard and Betancourt were asked about how the sophomore class government had informed them about the process it takes to obtain a date and how they came to the conclusion to host semi a month earlier than usual.

“[The class government] just threw [out] a date,” Betancourt said. “[I haven’t] heard an explanation as to why [semi] is earlier.”

“To be honest, the only way I’ve been informed is by my friends who are in student government,” Leonard said. “I feel like they haven’t really talked about it with the whole grade.”