ASB’s perspective on the 2023 Winter Ball

Each year, at least three dances are held at Ballard High School, and each year, the student body and ASB has expectations of how these dances are executed. For Homecoming, students complained about the extensive line outside, and at Winter Ball, there was ticket confusion and complaints of food not being provided to students attending.

ASB President Cass Sylves, Club Coordinator Addy Wynkoop and ASB Treasurer Emma Steinburg, who is also a member of the Talisman staff, were all given various tasks in preparing for this year’s winter dance, which was held on Feb. 10 at the Seattle Art Museum. Steinburg, who was put to the task of coordinating ticket sales, reflected on the process of selling them, encouraging the student body to purchase tickets as soon as possible to avoid last minute stress.

“A lot of people waited until the last day, after we were almost sold out. I think people need to go sooner,” Steinburg said.

She also emphasized her hopes for the future in ASB’s communication with the student body on ticket sales.

“I think we could make it so there’s more announcements. We also didn’t really mention enough that there was a limit on tickets. I think that’s one thing ASB could improve in the future,” Steinburg said.

Wynkoop, in charge of the parking situation and ticket prices, also voiced her perspective on the ticket purchasing process.

“I wish that we could’ve sold the tickets for less. It’s difficult when we want to choose a nicer venue because that makes the tickets more expensive to cover the costs,” Wynkoop said.

She also briefly responded to the complaints the student body made on the lines for purchasing tickets.

“There were a lot of complaints about long lines, but within our first two weeks when the prices were the lowest we had a bunch of days where nobody was buying tickets. I’d just ask the student body to maybe get on it a little more,” Wynkoop said. “If they have the money, it’s a great chance to skip the line and buy it early for a cheaper price.”

When asked about their plans for the future dances, the trio unanimously agreed on figuring out a way for the tickets to be purchased completely online to make the process easier for both the student body and members of ASB. Sylves, who organized the venue, emphasized how much easier this buying process would be.

“I really want to have online tickets. When we only sell tickets, there’s human error and it makes it hard. If we could just do online tickets I feel like it would be easier for everyone to pay. Having a QR code, no line, with tickets on your phone,” Sylves said.

Considering all the hoops they had to jump through, the group considered Winter Ball overall a successful dance and an improvement from the organization used for homecoming. When asked about the overall success of Winter Ball this year, Wynkoop recalled her personal experience at the dance.

“Yeah, I think it was super successful. Like personally, my friends and I had a lot of fun and it seemed like everyone else did too. I think it was a big step up from homecoming,” Wynkoop said.