The Climate Committee and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club will join together on Friday, Feb. 14 to host a Valentine’s Day dance at 7:30 p.m. in the WHS Commons. The dance is meant to help the students form connections in a low-stress environment.

In the past, SADD has attempted to throw a school dance, but it wasn’t successfully planned. So, drawing on past experience, the two clubs decided to collaborate to create a bigger event. As co-president of the Climate Committee, senior Emma Sheehan has been in charge of planning the event and reaching out to local restaurants for their assistance.

“The Valentine’s Day Dance has been a collaborative group effort,” Sheehan said. “We’ve been trying to find some way to join all the grades together for a while.”

The dance will take place directly after the annual Coaches vs. Cancer basketball game, which will give students easy access to the dance. Sheehan wants students to know that the dance is less formal than other school-organized dances.

“If you want to wear sweatpants, wear sweatpants,” Sheehan said. “If you want to look nice, look nice. [Wear] whatever you want.”

The Climate Committee’s goal is to bridge the gap between administration and the student body as well as to improve WHS’ social climate. With this dance, the Climate Committee hopes that students from all grades will attend. For sophomore Angela Liu, the dance provides a good opportunity to spend time with her friends and relax before February break.

“It’s really nice how the clubs are getting more involved with how the school runs, giving more events, and [to know that] they have some events going on,” Liu said.

Junior Allen Zou is a member of the Climate Committee and is looking forward to finding out if the event will be successful.

“[I tried to] raise awareness by putting up posters and thinking of ideas on how we can get people to come to the event and how to keep people there as long as possible,” Zou said.

With Valentine’s Day approaching quickly, the two clubs are in the process of finalizing details.

“[Wellness teacher John] Berry agreed to DJ, and we’re trying to get a special guest appearance from Soup Time, so that’ll be super exciting if we can get that all setup,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan has high hopes for this dance as it is one of few all-school events taking place in the month of February.

“It’s important for people to know that it’s not just some weird, awkward dance,” Sheehan said. “It’s really just like a school get-together, and there’s going to be music.”

Sophomore Nina Lei is excited about another opportunity to relax with her friends outside of school.

“It’s a nice way to get people together so [that] everyone can hang out and relax after school,” Lei said.

Sheehan emphasizes the uniqueness of this event because it’s open to all grades. Sheehan notes that many students socialize after basketball games, so the dance will provide an opportunity for students to gather after the game.

The Valentine’s Day Dance will be filled with fun, food and dance. It is meant to be a great opportunity to connect with classmates outside of school and have a good time. The tickets for the event will be sold during lunches this week and at the door for $5.