The BW Holiday Gala returns to Strosaker Hall on Dec. 7 with its theme, “Winter Wonderland.” This seasonal event occurs every two years and is a great opportunity for our community to come together to celebrate the holiday season as well as the end of the fall academic semester. 

This year the gala was organized by the current student body president, the vice president, as well as the student planning committee.  

Brenna Holliday, a senior music education major and the current student body president, stated that this year’s theme will be illustrated with uses of a blue color palette and snowy scenes. Holliday also said that the dress code is more formal, but with the freedom to wear what makes the attendee most comfortable. 

“Whatever attire you feel most comfortable in and makes you your best self,” Holliday said. 

Holliday said that preparation for the gala started at the end of last spring semester. 

“Stephanie Neff [vice president] and I talked about it all summer, and we got our committee set, and we started meeting regularly as well as started meeting with the committee the second week of this semester, so it’s been a semester-long project,” Holliday said. 

One notable difference between this year’s gala and the 2022 Holiday Gala is the increase of other student organizations’ involvement with the gala. This includes different student Acapella performances as well as partnering and hosting events with organizations that lead up to the gala such as the Visual Arts Club and Student Government. 

“Making it so that other areas on campus were included in the planning process and leaving their own work on it was something we really wanted to incorporate in this holiday gala,” Holliday said. 

With the deficit and cuts currently happening, the budget for this year’s gala was significantly less than what it had been in previous years. But, to raise funds for the gala, the committee has hosted fundraising events such as line dancing, Chipotle, and Seven Brew. 

“Most of the funding and things from the gala is stuff that our committee has gone out and asked for and gotten donations and fundraisers for. That’s something we had to do a lot of planning with just to make sure that we could get the money because of the deficit,” Holliday said.  

The Holiday Gala’s Instagram page has been communicating with people who are interested in the gala and who are going to the gala by promoting events leading up to the event as well as hosted a Q&A session where story viewers could ask questions about the gala. 

Holliday hopes that attendees of the gala, including professors and families, will be able to have a fun-filled night with the BW community.