On January 19th, the upper school received an email announcing that this year’s Winter Formal has been postponed from January 12th to March 4th. “By then, the weather will be better, COVID cases will be down (fingers crossed!), and we can enjoy the event without any worries,” wrote math teacher and senior class sponsor Ms. Dolores Williamson.

This specific date was chosen based on multiple factors. Ms. Williamson explained that she was given two dates: one in February and one in March. Since March is farther away, she reasoned that there’s a higher likelihood that COVID rates will have fallen by then. “I felt like by the March date, we should have no reason to cancel the dance,” she said. “But it still gives juniors and seniors time before Prom.”

Additionally, there are few events taking place at Bishop’s on March 4th, meaning no conflicts should arise.

Joseph Aguilar (‘22), a member of the senior council organizing the Winter Formal, explained that the decision was mostly out of their hands. He and the other seniors recognized that events were getting shut down, so it was no surprise when they found out that Bishop’s decided to postpone for everyone’s safety. “A few of the other members of class council and I were thinking about postponing it anyway just because of our own concerns,” he recalled. 

Joseph and Ms. Williamson were on the same page that the ultimate goal is for students to attend the dance. “There is no conversation about canceling it. We’re talking about it like it’s happening 100%,” Ms. Williamson reassured. 

“I was kind of expecting winter formal to just get canceled,” said Renee Wang (‘24). “If it happened on the original date, I knew it wouldn’t be responsible to go. So I’m just glad I still have a chance to.” Lila Hampers (‘24) agreed, saying that she would have been hesitant to go on January 21st. “I was sad to hear it was postponed since I was looking forward to it, but it was the right thing to do.”  

No one can be exactly sure where the world will be in a month and a half. Despite an unknown future, Bishop’s continues to keep an optimistic outlook on events happening in the second semester. Joseph explained his view on the situation as go-with-the-flow. “If COVID peaks in late January like we expect it to, then the date seems pretty set. But if things out of our foresight and out of our control come up, we really plan on still making the dance happen.”