With new students arriving at Bonita Vista High (BVH), there is an expectation promising certain events that will be held. One of these said events is Baronial, a formal winter dance meant to focus on reversing the roles of boys asking girls to the dance into girls asking boys. However, over the years of BVH history, this has slowly changed with the dwindling popularity of Baronial as a whole.
“I was a BVH graduate so I went to Baronial as a student and beyond that I have occasionally chaperoned during 2012 and 2015, so it has been a while since I have chaperoned [or attended] Baronial,” United States History Honors teacher Candice DeVore said.
With DeVore’s history at BVH and Baronial, she speaks about her knowledge she recalls from her past during her times as a student at Baronial along with her time as a chaperone. Her thoughts on the tradition of reversing gender norms of boys asking girls to the dance and how the dance intertwines with her experiences.
“The shifting from it being the traditional girls asking boys type of thing which is always like a tongue and cheek since in highschool I got asked to go to Baronial and I asked someone to go to Baronial, neither seemed to be out of the normal,” DeVore said.
During her time as a chaperone, DeVore finds herself enjoying welcoming new and returning students into the Baronial dance along with announcing the crowned royalties of the dance. These royalties are voted by students.
“As a chaperone, I usually would do two things. I would often announce the Baronial royalty so that was sometimes a role that they would have me do; Then I would take tickets [at the event],” DeVore said.
Although the focus of the dance is for it to be a dance based off of the tradition of gender norms role reversal where girls ask boys instead of vice versa. They are shown to be equal in who asks who, regardless of gender identity.
“We always saw it as an undergrad prom where you could dress up your date and you would wear a tuxedo, the other person might wear a really fancy dress. [Baronial] was kind of like the last dance of the school year besides MORP which is also really fun,” DeVore said.
As time goes on and BVH grows, Baronial is slowly drifting as a whole whether it is the ‘girls ask boys’ aspect or the popularity among students. The population of students going to Baronial has dwindled with teachers and staff questioning why.
“I could only guess as to why but I think one of the reasons is cost, it’s a pretty expensive thing to attend a school dance in general and I think the desire to want to look and present yourself a certain way is just one cost and the ticket is a second cost,” DeVore said.
The cost alone to go to a school dance is a large amount of money especially for brand new students attending BVH in hopes to join and experience an event like homecoming or prom. These events become highlights of the students’ high school years.
“We had a great turnout at homecoming [this year], we had eleven-hundred people at homecoming. Last year we had nine-hundred-fifty at homecoming but Baronial was still only about two-hundred,” Attendance coordinator, athletic director, Task Force advisor, and Associated Student Body (ASB) overseer Christina Ada said.
Task Force and seniors are in charge of organizing the dances each year. As the task force advisor for 2024, Ada sees the slow decline in students attending Baronial compared to previous years before COVID-19 which she believes could have greatly impacted the performance of Baronial.
“We used to have about four to five-hundred [students] attend probably ten years ago then COVID-19 hit. When we came back, this dance just [was not] as big. Usually about two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty attend [now], ” Ada said.
Cost and COVID-19 are just some barriers that could affect the popularity of Baronial. The name itself, “Baronial,” plays on the BVH mascot “The Baron.” Although the name ‘Baronial’ shows school pride by putting a spin on the word ‘Baron’, students may not be enticed by it, not knowing what it is at first when hearing the word Baronial.
“I am wondering if calling it the Winter Formal [dance] would make it more appealing. I’m not sure if maybe it’s just the name of the dance or students are just not understanding that calling it Baronial is our version of the Winter Formal, ” Integrated Math 2 and International Baccalaureate (IB) Math Analysis and Approaches (A&A) teacher Cristina Hernandez said.
Hernandez recalls her vague memory of her experience at Baronial before her graduation from BVH. Having attended Baronial previously and chaperoning the upcoming one for 2024, she speaks on her thoughts about the decline of students. The name Baronial keeps as a nickname for the Winter Formal dedicated to the students of BVH for all grades, although some of which may not find it as appealing and not see it as the dance it is intended to be.
“Maybe if it was more well known. If the ASB or the school could put out what it is about or why it is called that [then] maybe it would be more appealing,” Hernandez said.
Prom, MORP, Grad Night and Homecoming are all well known activities for students during high school, especially for seniors. New students entering BVH from the COVID-19 lockdown and the Baron branded name are possible factors that affect Baronial attendance and the future culture of the school and its activities.
“I’m hoping a lot of students end up going this weekend. I will be there chaperoning so I am excited. [The teachers] have a lot of fun chaperoning the dances. We have a really nice time seeing all the kids have fun,” Hernandez said.
