A gym filled with sweaty adolescents wearing sparkly Christmas colored dresses, dress shirts, and khakis, looked at by some as the epitome of a bad night, but for others it’s the night of the season: the winter formal dance.

The debate on whether or not to go to this formal event can be so controversial for some. “Why should I go? I can’t dance, why would I go if it focused around something I can’t even do?” or “It’s not my scene.” The views on this topic are too objective. It isn’t about how well you can dance, whether or not you have a date, if you like dressing up, or even how well you think you’d fit in, it’s about living.

It’s about being there in the moment with your best friends having the time of your life. Who cares if you look silly or feel weird, it’s all about letting loose. It’s about seeing the quiet kid from your English class doing the whip and laughing hysterically.

It’s about making awkward eye contact with your teachers and dancing so hard for so long that you feel like you haven’t drank water in a year. It’s about creating that bond with those people you haven’t broken the ice with yet.

It’s about that feeling that shoots through you when you hear your favorite song come on. It’s about suddenly loving pop music for the time being. It’s about dancing with that cute crush you’ve been hoping would notice you. It’s about looking around and being thankful for all these wonderful people you go to school with.

Being a senior, I’m starting to become an expert on this whole high school thing. What I continue to learn and emphasize every year is the importance of being involved, going out to those school events and enjoying yourself. These four years go by so fast, I can’t believe graduation is in only five short months… taking advantage of these things before your time here is done is so important, don’t live to regret it.

Take a risk. Go out of your comfort zone, you have the opportunity to have a night of your life and make memories you’ll never forget.

I love walking in the gym and being in a sea of good looking people, everyone is showing their sense of style and how well they clean up, it’s wonderful. I love seeing random girls in the bathroom I’ve never talked to and just complimenting how great they look.

The dance is such an accepting atmosphere and we have so many people who work so hard to make it happen. So go out, take that chance, take that dance, look silly, and enjoy being young. It will all be worth it, I promise.