Prefect Council allowed the first 50 people that signed the Whiteout pledge on Monday to pie them in the face during break to encourage students to attend the dance. Excluding black lights and neon decorations, students will be immersed in complete darkness for Prefect Council’s Valentine’s Day themed dance, Whiteout, on Feb. 16 from 7:30 to 11 p.m. in Hamilton Gym.
“We hope that people will really embrace this opportunity to go to a Harvard-Westlake social event and really give students an event outside everyday school life,” Senior Prefect Morgan Hallock ’13 said. “We think that it will be successful and really push forward a whole new era of school dances.”
Community Council chose to donate $3 of every ticket to Vision to Learn, a charity that provides free glasses and eye exams to elementary school students in low-income areas of Los Angeles.
“Vision to Learn is a wonderful organization that continues to inspire me,” head of Community Council Emily Plotkin ’13 said. “I went to an event for VTL on Monday; seeing the kids’ faces when they put on glasses for the first time was truly moving. They literally were opening their eyes to a whole new world.”
Raffle tickets that will be drawn at Whiteout have been sold for the two weeks prior to the dance to raise more money for Vision to Learn.
Tickets are $5 each or $20 for five tickets, and even those not going to the dance can participate.
Prizes include field level Dodger tickets, a Taper gym parking spot and an iPad Mini. To further raise funds, an assortment of food is also being sold this week, and Valentine grams will be sold on Valentine’s Day. During the dance, food trucks Bellybomz, Slammin’ Sliders, Kogi and Paradise Cookies will be outside of Hamilton gym, and there will be a tented Dojo Grotto equipped with heat lamps and couches where students can eat the food they purchase.
To encourage students to ask dates to Whiteout, Prefect Council created a competition leading up to the event. Students interested in participating must take a video or picture of the “ask out moment,” and submit it via flash drive or YouTube to Prefect Council. These submissions will be divided into four categories: Most Creative, Most Awkward, Best Team Effort, which requires at least five people involved, and Sweetest.
Entries are posted on the HW Whiteout Facebook page, and for students without Facebook, a link to the entries will be distributed via email. The winners will be decided by a vote and announced at class meeting.
Dates from other schools are allowed and tickets are being sold at the bookstore for $35 dollars each. Students are required, however, to sign a Whiteout Pledge for both themselves and their date in order to buy a ticket.
In signing the pledge, students confirm their awareness that student handbook rules apply to the Whiteout dance and that the school can take disciplinary actions against students for their actions both on campus and off.
Students also confirm that they understand and agree to six stipulations including not using a limo or party bus as transportation as well as not attending an after-party at a non-residential venue.
