At Bonita Vista High (BVH), BVH prepares to put on its first Baronial in over three years. With the Class of 2023 Task Force efforts, this year’s Baronial will be taking place at The Lane on February 25 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 

Although in past years, Baronial has served as a fundraiser, this year emphasizes all grade levels to come together in an exciting way and become one community. 2023 Task Force Secretary and senior Audrey Fernandez believes that this dance can be a step towards fulfilling BVH principal Lee Romero’s goal to bring back school spirit.

“It had the stigma that it’s only for underclassmen, but we want to make Bonita more of a community and bring us all together. Especially after spending those years in COVID-19,” Fernandez said.

2023 Task Force President and senior Lannah Garcia shares the same sentiment. She says that this dance can be special for underclassmen who have not experienced the running for court culture surrounding it and feels that this year’s Baronial is a great experience for seniors as well since the last one took place their freshman year.

“It definitely is very special for the underclassmen because it’s the only dance in the year that they’ll get to run for court. Even if you’re a freshman, a sophomore, junior or senior, you get to run to be a duke and duchess, baron and baroness, prince and princess and queen and king,” Garcia said.

Although Baronial will not have any new additions and will continue as usual, 2023 Task Force made sure to look for venues as early as the first semester. Furthermore, they made sure to get a venue that could hold double the ticket sales, which is usually around 400, in anticipation of more interest to accommodate everybody.  

“When we were reaching out to venues before Homecoming, a lot of them turned us down because they were already booked. We’ve changed the date for Baronial three times trying to get something that will work,” Fernandez said.

Moreover, Garcia expressed some concerns they had and challenges they stumbled upon besides trying to get a venue that was available. It is important for advertising of the Baronial dance to reach all grades in order to have higher attendance. Although Task Force had their concerns about the close proximity selling Baronial tickets and Grad Nite tickets for seniors, they continued their efforts to promote the dance, such as promoting on Bonita Vista Television.

“My main concern is about attendance because we did try to specifically pick a venue that would allow for us to have more people,” Garcia said. “So we want more people to go and it also ties into the issue of advertising for Baronial too.”

Both Garcia and Fernandez say that although Baronial is supposed to be a smaller dance, they are learning from past events this year such as Homecoming in order to accommodate whatever comes up. 

“There are a lot of things to learn from. Obviously, with the Homecoming tickets selling out, we are always looking for ways we can improve,” Fernandez said.

Garcia said the main priority right now is decoration since The Lane is much more simple looking than The Prado, which was more elegant looking by itself. Similarly, Fernandez believes that deciding on a theme for Baronial has been the most challenging part. In the end, Task Force decided to stick to a familiar theme of “Over the Moon” with the colors blue and gold to emphasize a sense of the BVH community at the dance. 

“It was difficult to commit to the theme because we have so many ideas, it’s hard to stick to just one you wanted to do,” Fernandez said. “We don’t want to have a melting pot of everything, because it can get too messy.”

Furthermore, 2023 Task Force Advisor Christina Ada emphasizes that in a collaborative effort, task force has done a good job of accomplishing goals that were initially set. She believes that the most important work has been done by them and that she has mainly been there to support them along the way.

“I make sure to give the 2023 Task Force officers the guidance they need and any support that they need. They do all the legwork, all the planning and then I help make their vision come true,” Ada said.

As Ada explained, the 2023 Task Force has done most of the work behind planning Baronial. Garcia explains her responsibilities as well as her experience when planning this year’s Baronial. She is appreciative of Fernandez and treasurer and senior Jenna Broas for supporting her with contacting venues, DJ’s and photobooths.  

“We’re in charge of the funding for Baronial, the planning, decorating and advertising. Our officers are actually in charge of contacting the venues, although Ms. Ada is extremely helpful,” Garcia said. “It’s a very fun experience for the 2023 Task Force to be able to be the ones not necessarily behind the scenes, but actually causing the event to happen.”

Similarly, Fernandez explains she has had the pleasure of working with a variety of ideas and being able to put the vision together. 

“Being a part of the process and having a really significant role, I feel like I have the ability to plan a dance that I am enthusiastic about going to,” Fernandez said. “I’m enthusiastic by attending [Baronial] while incorporating the ideas of my peers.”