By Beatrice Kennedy
“Snowball” has been the hot topic circulating the LREI High School halls since Student Government announced it in morning meeting on January 10th. After two years on hiatus, LREI finally held a high school-wide dance in the PAC right here on the Charlton Street campus on January 31st, 2025. But why haven’t we had a dance in two years? What was it like planning the Snowball? The Knightly News decided to go out into the community to fully understand the school’s history with dances and what made this year’s Snowball special.
To start, I interviewed Billie Allee, the Senior Director of Programming, about what it was like to plan the Snowball and how LREI’s Student Government made it possible. She told us that to start, she and Ciela Lavani, the Junior Director of Programming, had to pitch the idea of a high-school-wide dance to Amanda Finigan and Phil Kassen, the LREI high school principal and LREI’s head of school. She said that they immediately got the OK and were “super enthusiastic” about the idea of doing a school dance and were willing to fund it. They then proposed a price point and pitched a mood board to Finigan and got a budget cleared to buy food, drink, decorations, and hire a DJ. She told us that “we also had to communicate with maintenance to get high-top tables and help with cleaning up after the dance.” A challenge that faced the Student Government when planning the Snowball was the location. Allee told us that they were on the fence about having the dance in the PAC and thought of hosting it in Thompson Street Gym, but after reflecting on the last school dances negative feedback from students, they decided to host it in the PAC. Another challenge with hosting it in the PAC was the conflicts with the ongoing rehearsals for the upcoming musical Matilda in the PAC, but it all worked out and Student Government was able to set up with enough time before the dance started. All that was left was to announce it. Student Government planned an exciting morning meeting announcement, including a fun skit and flyers that looked like snowballs falling from the balcony in the PAC. This excited many students, and to promote it even further, Student Government made a promotional video with pairs of people “snowposaling” each other (a play on the classic “promposal”) and shared it with the high school during morning meeting. Additionally, they posted about it on the Student Government Instagram page and sent out school-wide emails encouraging students to attend. When I asked Allee about what it was like to plan the Snowball she told us that “it was pretty stressful and it took a lot of communicating with administrators and faculty.” She told us there were a lot of moving parts and felt like Student Government had big shoes to fill after the last school dance received many critiques. In all she, “really wants people to enjoy the school dance and replicate the feel of a classic high school dance, which I think we achieved!”
When I interviewed Emily Thomas and Ann Carroll I started by asking them to describe the history of dance at the LREI high school. Caroll said that in her career here at LREI, there have only been two other dances outside of senior prom. She said there was supposed to be a dance in January of 2021 but the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 canceled it. Thomas added, “We’re trying to build a history with this year’s Snowball.” The last dance held for the high school was the 2023 homecoming dance. It was held at Thompson Street Gym and also was not open to students outside of LREI. Thomas said she chaperoned it and said that Thompson felt big compared to the PAC, and thought the PAC was a better location to have a dance because people could feel closer together. Caroll commented, “It was the first semi-formal dance and homecoming LREI had ever had and that the first time you do anything it can serve as a good learning experience.” She added, “While it maybe wasn’t the dance of everyone’s dreams, the lessons that were learned were applied to this year’s Snowball.” Thomas also noted that there wasn’t an adult ready to “spearhead a dance last year and Ann was out on leave as the director of Student Government, so it was hard to make it happen last year.” When asked about what hopes they had for this year’s Snowball Thomas said, “My hope was it would be fun and drama-free. The biggest goal was something that would bring the student body together and build momentum to become a tradition.” She also noted that she shouldn’t get too much credit for this because Student Government did a lot of the heavy lifting and worked hard to make the Snowball happen. Finally, when I asked them what their feelings were about the Snowball Caroll said “It was so much fun and I think the space was well decorated, the DJ was great, and everything was great.” She added that many students came with good intentions and came to have fun with their friends with optimism about dances becoming a school tradition. Thomas added that when she came to LREI in 2021 there was an ongoing conversation about “how to rebuild school spirit after the pandemic because it really took a toll on student life and we really want to bring it back and I think the Snowball really got the ball rolling.”
Overall the 2025 Snowball was a success! The Snowball marked a significant moment in LREI’s history, bringing the high school community together. Despite the challenges faced in planning and organizing the event, Student Government, along with faculty support, managed to create an unforgettable evening. As the LREI high school continues to rebuild its sense of community post-pandemic, the Snowball has truly set the stage for many more treasured traditions to come.