TOLO This Saturday Night from 8-11PM
TOLO is for all US students
Attention parents and students in the Upper School:
Next Saturday night, Nov. 1, is TOLO from 8-11 p.m., in the Campus Center. Doors will stay open until 9 p.m. Please remind your child to let me know if they are going to be late for any reason. Students are allowed to leave at any time, but once they leave, they are not allowed to come back in to the dance. The purpose of this rule is to make sure kids are not coming and going from Overlake. There will be some dessert options at the dance, but there will not be substantial food, so kids will want to eat prior to the dance. Here are a couple of pieces of critical information to know:
· TOLO is traditionally formal, but formal dress is not required and your child will not be the only one who comes dressed informally if that is what they choose to do..
· TOLO is traditionally girl-ask-guy, but that is not required, encouraged or necessary from the school’s point of view. From my point of view, we hope kids attend and participate, so whether they come with a date, a friend, a group of friends or alone, that is perfectly fine.
· Theme for the dance is Havana Nights, which really affects the decoration of the dance more than anything else.
· There will be a photographer taking pictures, and his packages range from $20-$60 depending on how many pictures kids want to purchase. Students need to bring cash in order to order pictures, and kids can take pictures in groups and then split the cost.
· Tickets to TOLO will be $10 per person, and they will be available for purchase next week at lunch as well as at the door. Students can purchase those tickets with cash or via their student accounts.
· As always, we will have adult chaperones who are supervising at the dance, and you can call me if you have any questions.
As TOLO is the first dance of the year where students ask each other, there is often drama, excitement and hurt feelings that surround this dance. Further, as a new ninth-grader, a student may not be ready to ask or be asked to a formal dance, yet they are thrust into this experience just being at school during this time. Kids may have to deal with not getting asked, turning someone down or choosing which group of friends to go with. For teenagers, no matter where they fall in the mix, this is both a hard and important social experience. As a school, we do our best to prepare kids for what to do, what to expect, but despite our best efforts, this can be a difficult time for students, especially if they are not on the positive side of the learning experience continuum. Please remind your teens that they do not have to follow tradition and ask someone, they can attend in groups of friends, they can buck the social system and that they are not alone in wanting to. While this may not work, it is important for them to hear and to have it as an option. Most important, this is a chance for them to make decisions about what is right for them. You may not agree or like what they choose, but it is their chance to experience how their actions affect their lives, and the only way to learn about that is to do it. Thank you for your support and please contact me if you have any questions.—Ryan Burke, Dean of Students, The Overlake School, rburke@overlake.org, (425) 868-1000, Ext. 691.