TJ students celebrate another Valentine’s Day by dancing the night away at Eros.
Spartans get their groove on. Photo by Ed Gloor
After an unconventional spirit week, Spartans enjoyed the Valentine’s Day weekend by getting dressed up and going to the school with friends to dance and socialize at the traditional Eros dance on Saturday, February 11.
This year’s spirit week was carried out slightly different than usual, having no pep rally on Friday. Instead the school opted to have a pep rally for the George Washington basketball game on January 20. Nonetheless, TJ enjoyed a spirit week packed with new and unique days: Dress like a Teacher Day, Classy Tuesday, TV Show & Movie Character Day, Back In the Day Day, and of course TJ’s traditional Brown and Gold Day.
This year a total nearing 230 tickets were sold to the event, topping last year’s sales. “There was a successful turnout for the annual dance this year,” said Student Council Advisor and Treasurer Derek Steffes.
At 8:00 p.m., decorated with balloons, lights, and inflatable arches and columns, the gym and front lobby were filled with well-dressed Spartans ready to show off their dance moves. “I really enjoyed my first Eros,” said Freshman and Student Council Representative Laine Stewart. “It was really fun. I liked wearing my fancy dress, dancing to the good music, and socializing with friends. The decorations looked nice too.”
Eros, for many upperclassmen, is a fondly remembered tradition. Senior Mitchell Moore says for a last Eros, it was a great time. “Eros was a blast. It got a lot of good hype and it turned out to be a lot of fun for everyone. It was fun to be able to wear my goofy ensemble and still look formal enough to be let into the dance. For four years in a row, Eros has gone four for four in the category of great nights.”
Bringing an end to the dance in the few minutes before 11:00 p.m., Assistant Principal Mike Christoff ushered the mass of Spartans over to the DJ table to announce Eros royalty. This year’s Count and Countess went to Freshmen Luke Stavish and Carmen Hernandez. Duke and Duchess were awarded to Sophomores Corbin Sells and Celeste Henderson. Prince and Princess were presented to Juniors Layth Dieyleh and Shelby Anderson. Last but not least, the honor of King and Queen were won by Seniors Daniel Wakefield and Tori Perez. “When the ballot was first announced Friday I wasn’t on it,” explains Wakefield. “Later in the day Derek told me I was on it which was surprising because I was also nominated for Homecoming royalty. When they announced my name at the dance I was really excited to have won.”
