The TRUTH Behind the Year 12 Formal

By Spencer O

The year 12 formal was an exciting event for many, truly a cornerstone of our VCE experience, but how many of us really know the background for the event, what really went on behind the scenes to get this event to happen. Isabelle and Sienna from year 12 had come into Ubique to shed some light on the truth behind the formal!

To begin this saga, approximately 3 months before the day of the event, Mr. Bush had called for help from the year 12 cohort, to which Isabelle and Sienna answered. When asked about their decision for working as a pair, they said “No, it was best just us two”. 

In the beginning, they discussed with Mr. Madden how best to organise the event, when it should be, what to bring, etc. Most importantly however was the location. Isabelle and Sienna vehemently did not want San Remo again, as it was already the location for the year 11 formal last year. To my understanding, the duo would ask the teachers about having another venue, maybe “Hey, this venue, ___, has a bunch of cool stuff we’d like for the formal”, to which the reply would be “Ah, but San Remo can do that better!”. Potentially there is some kind of shadowy deal between Uni High and San Remo ballroom?

The compromise for having the same venue was the theme of Hollywood, mostly the way the venue would be decorated (in particular the photo booth), but also the way the attendees would dress for the night. I asked the two “were you disappointed when most people ignored the Hollywood dress code?” to which they replied “No, it was expected, the idea was more for the venue to look different from last year”.

Isabelle and Sienna also discussed their experience answering the many queries that they received from students. “Every night we’d be up late helping as many people as we could through text on the Instagram account, but then again, everyone wants their night to be perfect”. 

Reportedly also, students at Uni High are very interested in bag security.

As many of you in year 12 would know, the formal was organised through an Instagram account. When asked about this, Sienna said “we had asked the teachers almost daily in the beginning to put the links for the important forms on Compass, which didn’t go through in the end”.

As a personal anecdote, I was shocked that they were able to achieve so much on their own in just 3 months, I was also astounded that it was just the two of them answering all the questions of attendees in regards to seating and catering. I certainly would’ve hired more help, but they were adamant that just working as a pair was all they needed.

Ultimately, with the level of effort that Sienna and Isabelle put into this event, no wonder it turned out so well. The talks with the teachers, sleepless nights, they were all worth it so that everyone would have the perfect year 12 formal!

In Isabelles own words “It was completely worth it, it would’ve felt more stressful NOT knowing what was happening”.