Tallmadge High School held its annual Winter Formal Event, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m Jan. 18. This marks the third time Tallmadge has hosted a Winter Formal since 2008. The crew behind it, including the Student Senate, the Parents-Teachers-Students Association (PTSA), and Art Teachers Alexandria Eads and Anna Blasko, are all creating a unique piece of the experience.
“The trees were made out of cardboard, the falling snow was made out of cotton balls, and even though it was simple, it was a beautiful event,” senior Angel Patterson said.
Last year’s Winter Formal theme was “A Night Under The Northern Lights,” which showcased the beautiful Northern Lights famously seen in Iceland. This year, the experience certainly will not sell itself short, as everyone involved is finding creative ways to fill the atmosphere with this year’s theme, Winter Wonderland.
“We discussed what we wanted to do with ideas from Mrs. Blasko and began thinking about ways to use what we had available. We are re-using some of Homecoming’s previous items from ‘A Night Under The Stars’, like the bottles which are holding the tree branches,” junior Valerie Dove said.
But what is a dance without a focal piece? Eads tackled that question for many years, and most recently, during the 2024 Homecoming Dance when she created the Shipwreck focal piece seen at the end of the hallway for ‘Zero Depth’, the Homecoming theme. This year, she reminisced about her past work and gave a tease of the ideas.
“In high school, I did a lot of displays for plays, so I really enjoy doing displays, designs, and trying to build things three-dimensionally. Winter Wonderland was a pretty easy theme, but we were trying to put our own spin on it. We were going for blues, silvers, and whites,” Eads said.
Winter Formal was another opportunity for Tallmadge students to come together with friends and significant others but is not meant to be given the harsh expectation that is put onto Homecoming or Prom.
“Students go into Winter Formal without expectations, because they do not know what to expect. It is meant to be more of a normal night out and focus on going out with friends and seeing what it is about,” Eads said.
Winter Formal was intended to bridge the gap between Tallmadge’s attention-drawing dances, Homecoming, and Prom, the latter only available to Juniors and Seniors. With Winter Formal, there was another opportunity for a more casual, relaxed night out with a Winter atmosphere.
“We had ten years where there was no dance, you [have] the two bookends, Homecoming and Prom, so it is really nice because we have nothing going on right now really, and we are just easing back into school, and there is a dance that is in the middle of them,” Blasko said.
Winter Formal did not always exist in Tallmadge History, and in August and October of 2022, two students polled the entirety of Tallmadge High School for a Winter Formal. Former School Principal Mark Treen approved it for the 2021-2023 school years, and Winter Formal was then envisioned. Now, the ones who started it, do not know how it will end.
“Our class was the class that started it, so after we graduate, then we are going to have to count on the Juniors and Seniors to do it. If they do not do it, this could be the last one we have.” Student Senate Member & senior Maya Gonidakis said.,
Blasko emphasized that Winter Formal was here to stay, and was in high hopes for the future of Winter Formal. The last time Tallmadge hosted a mid-year dance was in 2012 when it was called a Sweetheart’s Dance and was centered around Valentine’s Day.
“We can totally keep it going. I think students really like it, it is definitely smaller than homecoming and prom, but that is okay! Everything is local, the PTSA helps, the DJ is local, so it is more of a hometown kind of thing,” Blasko said.
