Introduction

For my last high school Winter Formal, also known as Turnabout, ever, I needed to go out with a bang. I decided to ask Antonio Bajana with a series of proposals, as he said no each time, that finished off with a massive finale. In this article you can see the supplies needed, how each proposal was prepared, several different roadblocks, photos, and more. This article is to inspire all those lovely individuals out there wondering how they themselves can acquire a winter formal date. Hopefully this article can give you ideas, hope, or just a good read. This process is not for the weak however, so if you’re going to attempt this yourself, confidence is key, persistence is imperative, and have fun with it. It’s gonna be a lot of hard work and effort so make sure you enjoy what you’re doing so it’s not a total waste.

Supplies Used:

• Ruler

• Scissors

• Glue

• Tape

• Sharpies (thick and thin)

• Markers in every color

• Sticky letters

• Glitter paper

• Trump cardboard cutout

• Poop emoji hat

• Printed photos

• Spiderman suit

• Fake candles

• Flowers

• Jolly ranchers

• 5 poster boards

• Spiderman masks

Stats for Each Proposal

1st Proposal:

Description: The poster said “You Trump all the other guys, WOFO 2024?” and I brought in a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump to stand behind it.

Date asked: This was done Tuesday, January 23rd during the passing period from 5B-5C in the Math Hallway.

Time spent creating: This poster took a total of 2 hours.

Supplies used: Trump Cutout, 1 poster board, a ruler, glue, markers, sharpies, and glitter stick letters. $2 was spent on this poster with only one Walgreens run.

People involved: Gianna Dicanio, Jade and Jem Ponce, and Asher Feltman helped with crafting. Nicole Taha helped with the creation of the promposal, and Rayan Lahlou filmed. Mrs. Kiska stored the poster board.

Result: “No.”

2nd Proposal:

Description: This poster was more of an inside joke but contained images of Tonny saying something and the slogan was me making fun of it. An edited photo will be posted below.

Date asked: This was done Friday, January 26th during the passing period from 5D-6 in the English Hallway.

Time spent creating: This poster took a total of 2 hours.

Supplies used: 2 printed photos, 1 posterboard, markers, tape, glue, sharpies, and a poop emoji hat. $16 was spent on this poster with one Walgreens run.

People involved: Nicole Taha helped make this poster, Ariana Huaman donated her poop emoji hat, and Mrs. Gonzalez stalled Tonny. Emily Neil and Rayan Lahlou recorded and Zayd Lahlou ensured that the poop emoji hat did not fall over.

Result: “Ay I actually (mess) with that so heavy. That’s actually hilarious. No.”

3rd Proposal:

Description: This poster said “It’d be MARVELous if you’d SUIT UP and SWING with me to Turnabout!” I held the poster at the top of the library ramp wearing a Spiderman suit while 16 volunteers held fake candles and flowers on the side while wearing Spiderman masks. The flowers were given to Tonny as he walked up.

Date asked: This was done Tuesday, January 30th during the passing period from 2-3rd period in front of the library.

Time spent creating: This poster took a total of 4 hours.

Supplies used: Glitter paper, 1 posterboard, markers, sharpies, a ruler, scissors, glue, a Spiderman suit, 16 Spiderman masks, 10 fake candles, and 6 flowers. 20 dollars total were spent on this poster with a CVS run, 2 amazon orders, a Jewel Osco run, and a Target run.

People involved: Nicole Taha helped make this poster, Andrew Gauthier lent his Spiderman suit, Mrs. Ahlmann allowed me to use her room to store things, Ariana Huaman helped record, Sarai Quintinar and Cassandra Chowaniak helped organize, distribute, and took part of the promposal, Sky Vazquez, Angie Roldan, Anastasia Prodanchuk, Gianna Dicanio, Catalina Casas, Zayd Lahlou, Jade Ponce, and more participated as volunteers, and Tony Guzman escorted Tonny to the designated area.

Result: “If I say yes is it gonna stop? It’s still gonna be a no.”

4th Proposal:

Description: This was me on the intercom saying “Sweep, Swipe, Swope. Antonio Bajana, this is Serafina Feltman. Since the 3 posters didn’t work, I thought I’d try something new, so let me sweep you off your feet for winter formal?”

Date asked: This was done Wednesday, January 31st during the 4th period.

Supplies used: Intercom.

People involved: Dr. Brode Rico allowed me to speak on the intercom.

Result: “To the people out there in EPHS, the answer is no.”

5th Proposal:

Description: This was me singing the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli while the dancers and JV boys basketball team danced a specially choreographed dance at the pep rally, ending with them spelling out “Winter Formal” with letters while I asked one last time.

Times: This was done Friday, February 2nd during the pep rally.

Supplies used: 2 poster boards, markers, my speaker, and a microphone. Preparation took a total of 6 hours including creating the letters and practice. A total of 4 dollars were spent on this.

People involved: Mrs. Cleys helped out very much and allowed this to happen, the Dance team danced and Sarai Quintinar choreographed it, JV boys basketball also helped dance, Nicole Taha helped craft the letters and recorded, and Johnny Baratta helped introduce me.

Result: Tonny said yes!!!

Conclusion:

Winter Formal ended up being lovely, I would go so far as to say better than Homecoming. The preparation and each promposal has been filmed and is currently being crafted into a documentary that will be posted to Youtube shortly. If interested, subscribe to my Youtube channel at Serafina Feltman. Hopefully you learned something from these descriptions, whether it was perseverance, inspiration or more, and just remember to never give up and you will achieve your goals.