Creating C elebrations

By Andrew Lindsay, Feiya Wang & eo Younkin

Springtime is an exciting time for students and teachers alike. As the school year begins to wane, the yearlong e orts made by each grade's class o cers to plan exciting, end-of-year events begin to come to fruition.

is year, the freshman class o cers are planning their class’ dance, "Under the Stars." Freshman vice president Owen Butler said the theme had a variety of romantic undertones.

“We're really trying to go for a spacey, a little bit romantic kind of thing, like you're just sitting under the stars with a lover,” he said.

blacklight they rented.

When it came to the planning process, class o cer Clio McAneny said that the Parent-Teacher-Student Organization (PTSO) played a big role in helping to make the event possible.

“We set up a [form through] SignUpGenius every year for our dances where parents and the PTSO can sign up to bring stu . Last year, almost all of our decorations were supplied by the PTSO which was really helpful,” she said.“If they don't donate enough for what we need, we buy it ourselves with the money we’ve raised from previous events.”

Sophomore vice president Chloe Hu said that a lot of logistical details had to be taken into account while nalizing the details for the dance.

“We had to think about the di erent events that we wanted to do, and we looked into di erent photo booths, food and decoration,” she said. “We have LED lights, and we're also trying to add di erent fairy lights.” is year, the junior class’ annual semiformal dance is being held at the Boston Marriott hotel in May. Junior class president Kevin Yang said that the class o cers chose the venue because of its ideal location and amenities. ing, that was large and also close enough to Newton,” he said. “We found that the Newton Marriott right by the Charles was just a perfect location. It has a great view of the river. It's really spacious inside, it was well furnished and it's extremely close to most of the students who go to South.”

Yang said that the event’s Red Carpet theme was chosen to give attendees some exibility in their attire.

“If you look at the celebrities who go on the red carpet, there's a variety of dresses and suits that they wear,” he said.“Likewise, we also wanted something that was a little professional, so we didn't want to go for [something like] a beach theme.”

Junior class advisor Sarah Maillet said that class advisors play an important role in outreach to other adults involved in the process.

“We reach out to the PTSO when we need [to] or when we're asking something of them, or if we're asking something of the custodians, the sta , the faculty at large,” she said. “[We help the o cers] organize their thoughts in their thought process so that they can plan the best event possible.”

Considered an iconic part of the high school experience, attending prom has been something that many seniors have been looking forward to since the day they rst arrived at South. is year’s prom will be hosted at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston. Senior class president Tom Shimoni said that the theme for the event, “A Night in Paris,” had been inspired by an iconic French landmark, the Palace of Versailles.

“We couldn't do [a Red Carpet theme], because last year they used that theme. So, we thought, ‘Let’s go for a night in Paris,’” he said.

When it comes to planning an event, Butler said that the rst step is to have an openended conversation about its desired outcome.

“[First we have] a preliminary meeting. Basically, we just sit down and think,‘Okay, what do we want out of this?’” he said. “ are a few meetings after that that are more like, ‘We need to gure out the logistics. What are we going to call it? How are we going to advertise it?’”

Funding is always a chal lenge when it comes to planning a big event. While it’s been a tradi tion for the freshman class to go on an end-of-year cruise in years past, freshman class president Harvey Chen said that with the budget they have, it isn’t an option this year.

“We wanted to go on the cruise originally, but it was just too expensive,” he said. “We didn't have enough fundraising and we gured out if we save money this year, for the next few years we [will have more elaborate dances].”

On the other hand, the sophomore class o cers decided to take their end-of-year event in a di erent direction.

Light Bash,” was organized around the

“We wanted a venue that was friendly, that had good light -

Senior class advisor Patrick Jordan Quern said that while class o cers are mostly independent, he provided support to them throughout the planning process.

“In meetings, we're [mostly] there for support as advisors,” he said. “[We do] anything that needs contracts…venues, food, music, lights, donations, whenever there needs to be an adult signature.”

Shimoni said that the most challenging aspect of the planning process was narrowing down his vision for the dance.

“ e hardest part is [that] we have so many ideas we want to have at the event, but there's only so much money that we can invest,” he said. “And so we just have to prioritize what we really want.”

Quern said that his favorite part of the planning process is getting to see the ideas students come up with.

“All of the classes also meet during the same block, so you get to overhear what other people are doing,” he said. “It's interesting to see all the creative ideas. We feed o of each other.”

Alan Reinstein

Sometimes the gifts of a relationship swell beyond your partner or friend and over into the friend of your partner, or the partner of your friend, or the partner of the friend of your partner, or… you get it. Some people make you so glad you found your way to them — that person for me was Gunard Hans, the husband of my college girlfriend’s mother’s cousin. Gunard, Irene and their adult sons Karl and Peter lived in Madison, Wisconsin where my girlfriend Ingrid grew up and where we both were freshmen at the University of Wisconsin. I remember Gunard for two majestic qualities, and I want to tell you about him.

One, he could listen. First, know this: listening in his home was a Herculean feat because Irene was a swirl of nervous energy who expressed herself through unrelenting, over-the-speed-limit chatter. Ingrid described it as “speed-talking,” a quirky mannerism that was matched with just the right partner, capable of listening well.

To watch Gunard listen to Irene was to see patience and love in their purest forms, and whether this listening to his wife was driven by sympathy for her nervous condition or by an earnest interest in her thoughts is of no matter to me. I know what I saw: gentle, loving and patient attention given to another human being, the platonic ideal of listening.

Gunard’s gift was being able to free himself into the moment where listening was the appropriate thing to do. On the other hand, if speaking were the thing to do, he would have spoken. He seemed able to set aside all other ambitions in order to be fully present with his wife, a gift to her, of course, but also a gift to himself — and as an observer, to me.

Something else Gunard did during the short time that I knew him was that he comforted. Near the end of my junior year, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, and we all visited him at the university hospital right after his nal surgery, not long before he would return home to pass away. We all went to the hospital together — Irene, Karl, Peter, Ingrid and I — to comfort Gunard after the surgery, and yet, from his bed, he was consoling us, mollifying us with encouragement. I remember how obvious this odd reversal was to me, how fully natural and right it seemed.

I was on the outside, of course, the boyfriend, but I had wedged my way into this family over three years, and so I also was a bene ciary of Gunard’s goodness — his greatness. He held his wife’s and sons’ hands and told them not to worry: he assured them that he was feeling well, and it would all would be okay. It wasn’t, of course, and yet it was.

ere’s no way to know how you will respond to the darkest moments of life until they’re right there: you hope that you’ll be your best self, not so you can be remembered as a benevolent and courageous person, like Gunard Hans, but so your best self will be an agent for what the room needs most. If that means comforting others, then that’s it. If it means letting the comfort and love of others into you, then that’s it. To pay attention to what is needed seems to be among the many lessons I learned from Gunard Hans.

Sometimes the gifts of a relationship swell far beyond your partner or friend, and you’re so glad that you found your way there. I’m so glad that I found Gunard Hans.