With Chick-Fil-A, Phoenix Bakery, prom makeovers, a student DJ and door prizes, Northwood cheerleaders are reviving the Sadie Hawkins Dance in the cafeteria Saturday, Feb. 13. Prizes throughout the night include Gander Mountain and Walmart gift cards.
“The Sadie Hawkins Dance actually used to be a dance that [Northwood] had years ago and for some reason, just like Homecoming, they got away from it, so we’re trying to bring back that tradition,” head cheerleading coach Sherri Stubbs said.
According to Julia Pelvin, a writer for The Atlantic, Sadie Hawkins Day originated from Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip. In the strip, Sadie is unable to find a man to marry her because of her outward appearance. On an unspecified day in November, Sadie’s father set up a race for Sadie to catch the slowest bachelor.
“Sadie Hawkins is a chance where the girls can turn around and ask the guys, which gives them opportunity,” Stubbs said.
Sophomore Candice Overcash took advantage of this event to “prompose” to her boyfriend.
“I knew some of my friends had asked other people, and I didn’t want to ask him randomly,” Overcash said. “I kind of wanted it to be special.”
Senior Deshawn Alston will handle the music at the dance.
“Since I’m a part of the cheerleading team, I wanted to do something that I can do that’s a big role, and since I’m a DJ already, I [thought], ‘Why not do the dance?’” Alston said.
Stubbs hopes that students will be drawn to the dance because of peer-DJ Alston.
“DeShawn, who is actually our own student in the band and Charlie, our mascot, is actually DJing it, so we wanted the student body to feel like they’re all a part of it, especially having one of their own students DJ,” Stubbs said.
Sadie Hawkins will have a different option than the Homecoming dance for students to take photos.
“This time, instead of the photo booth we are actually having a photographer, Christy Clewis, who does a lot of the senior photos,” Stubbs said. “She’s coming in and doing a photo-op for special couples if they want that done as well.”
Attending the dance with a date is not a requirement.
“You don’t have to come with a date; you come with your friends and have fun; that’s the main thing,” Stubbs said.
According to Stubbs, the main goal of the dance is to bring school spirit back to Northwood.
“We’re trying to start back and bring back all these traditions that Northwood used to have and make the student group a unified group, because school spirit isn’t here, and we want to bring that back,” Stubbs said.
– By Ellie Saksa