Over 250 WHS Students Dance the Night Away

As the clock kept inching closer and closer to midnight on Friday night, Westfield High School continued to be packed as students and faculty jammed the cafeterias for the first ever Dance-a-Thon.

Sponsored by the high school's Student Council, the program attracted over 250 students for six hours of dancing, eating and socializing for charity. The program was designed as a fundraising for the Family Reach Foundation. The charity is the official charity of the New Jersey Association of Student Councils for the current school year.

The evening, which included costumed dancers in an 80s theme, featured dancing to a variety of pop music, along with dance contests for various prizes. Teacher chaperones jumped in on the dance action, taking to the circle several times and forming teams to compete.

A popular highlight of the evening was the salsa dancing hour, where students learned how to salsa dance before Latin music was blared through the cafeteria. Many dancers left the break room and the all night dinner selections to jump in on the salsa dancing.

The dance-a-thon is the first high school dance since the Hip Hoptober dance in October 2005. During her speech to parents in October, Student Council President Kate Brennan said the group was planning to create more traditions at the school, mentioning the dance-a-thon as a potential program. Spanish teacher Bonnie Underwood, the student council's co-advisor, said she, and her co-advisor, Italian teacher Lauren Durante, are excited the students decided to plan the dance-a-thon and had the high turnout.

"I'm so happy," Underwood said. "It's been so long since we've have a dance of any kind at the high school. It is a good thing to get the kids together. We're thrilled. These kids did an awesome job. They worked hard to put this together."

Editor's Note: Kare Brennan and Chris Salemme are interns for Westfield Patch.