Jingle Bell Ball (JBB) brings the school together every winter, and StuCo selects the event’s details.
Some students such as junior Kendra Gresham find working with StuCo similar to 4H, an organization for youth that fosters physical and emotional health, by teaching youth to manage their feelings, build self-esteem, and build character.
“Being in StuCo has helped me be able to go and take this into other things. I’ve been able to join more committees through 4H,” Gresham said, “I’ve been able to bring things from 4H to StuCo.”
StuCo decides different aspects of the event such as snacks, decorations, and a photo location with a backdrop. StuCo members have different jobs, senior Abby Marteney has participated in StuCo every year of high school.
“We have meetings monthly and then we decide what the decorations will be and how we’re going to sell tickets,” Marteney said.
Marteney has been heavily involved in past years as the president of StuCo.
“I was class president for the first three, and now I’m just a member because I didn’t want to be president,” Marteney said.
Special education teacher StuCo sponsor Deana Walls looks forward to JBB every year.
She likes “Getting to hang out with all the students, seeing them get dressed up, watching them have fun, watch them interact with each other groups that hang out and dance together that you usually don’t see hanging out together,” Walls said.
The number of students involved with setting up for JBB trickled off toward the end, but there were a few dedicated students every year.
“We always start off with a bunch of people really ready to go and involved,” Walls said,” As it gets closer, it kind of trickles down, and we have the same few that continue to participate and become strong leaders in helping out with the dance and with other events that we have.”
JBB gives students the opportunity to invite and attend the dance with friends. For some students, it gets them out of their comfort zone.
“You have kids interacting with each other kids they usually don’t interact with in the hallways. Everyone’s dressed up and looks nice, and it’s nice to hear other people compliment everyone else’s dresses,” Walls said.
