BY STEVE HASSEY

For the first time in three years, Mariemont High School hosted a formal Sadie Hawkins, also known as girls ask guys, style dance. On January 24th, well dressed Mariemont students piled into the gymnasium for Snowball.

In 2013 and 2014, the winter dance was informal. However, the lack of attendance at last year’s dance caught the attention of Student Council.

This year, Student Council increased the ticket prices by five dollars to a total of ten.

This year, there were several new features to the dance.  Senior Gretchen Wittry and junior Lauren Getgey were the architects of a raffle to keep attendance steady through the end of the dance. The prizes included four gift cards – two to Chipotle and one each to Dunkin’ Donuts and Skyline.

Freshman Andrew Brandser enjoyed his second high school dance more than his first.

“I liked Snowball more. I guess I knew more people. At Homecoming, I didn’t know many upperclassmen so it was a little bit awkward,” said Brandser.

Students complained about the DJ at Homecoming, so student council searched for an alternative.

“We knew that changing the music would be a priority because that was the biggest reason people left at homecoming. For this dance, we took music suggestions through a Blackboard survey to incorporate student opinions,” said Wittry, who serves as president of student council.

“I enjoyed the dance, more so at least than this year’s homecoming and previous informal dances. I didn’t stay the whole time, but the music I heard was good,” said senior Andi Christopher.

Up until this year, social studies teacher Michael Hanley advised Student Council, and thus helped to plan the dance. This was the first year that he passed his duties along to geometry teacher Lisa Block, who was the sole adviser behind this year’s event.

Graham McCarthy, a senior who attended both snowball and Seven Hills’ version of the same event, saw little difference between the two.

“Each dance took its own form, but they were almost exactly identical. A decent DJ played, students danced awkwardly, and then, soon enough, it was all over,” said McCarthy.

Overall, Wittry saw the Snowball dance as a success.

“I, for one thought it was one of the most fun dances I have been to!”