By SHEA RANGI
Staff Writer
UHS hosted their annual winter formal on Saturday, Feb.3. The dance took place at Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. In an effort to promote the theme at the dance, there were pillars in front of the ballroom as well as other decorative elements from the movie located throughout the library. The Junior Classical League planned and hosted the dance, costing them around $50,000 with a $38,000 hosting fee. There were 900 students attending the event.
“I was really impressed with the dance this year,” said JCL board member Karissa Maeda. “I loved the theme and after having devoted time during the JCL board meetings, it [was] so rewarding and amazing to see how far it came from just one idea.”
A table with various desserts, such as a chocolate fountain, was set up in the hallway. “I liked the desserts a lot and the venue was really nice,” said freshman Nikki Ghaemi.
Many of the students seemed to enjoy the music at the dance, as the library had both a band and a DJ. Outside the venue was a red carpet that led into a room with the swing band. The venue itself included a garden, a photo booth and a dance floor.  “Formal this year was truly different from last year,” junior Winston Kim said. “There were two types of music and a caricature booth which was really cool.”
The dance floor was crowded throughout the night, as the music and the lights illuminated the room. “When the dance began it started kinda mellow…But then we started to approach the climax when more people arrived, and the DJ started having better taste in music, as everyone was screaming and dancing and sweating” said junior Luke Vendzaldaff.
Unlike previous years in which the actual dance did not reflect the theme, Winter Formal this year truly upheld its inspiration. “I liked the Alice decorations this year since in the past years they didn’t really decorate that much,” junior Rojan Javineri said.
Overall, the dance was deemed successful by many UHS students. “This was overall my favorite Winter Formal out of the three that I’ve been to,” senior Isabelle Chow said.
“The whole atmosphere was great, you were able to see everyone that you [would] see in class usually all stressed out enjoying a night out dancing with their friends and making memories,” senior Zahrah Siddiqui said. “My senior year formal was a night to remember.”