Story by Christianne Duley
Staff Writer
Photos by Zoe Chen, Madeline Madrigal, & Emiko Essmiller
Staff Photographers & Photography Editor
SPHS held the annual Winter Assembly on Friday, Dec. 13, to wrap up the fall semester. Filled with performances and the reveal of the Winter Formal venue, the last assembly of the year provided students with respite before the week of finals.
Commissioner of Assemblies Zachary Lee began the assembly by detailing his struggles with finding a Winter Formal date. After he contemplated the possibility of asking out his fourth cousin, junior Cinbie Chang took the stage to sing her rendition of the national anthem. Band then followed up with a performance of Christmas Medley.
Drama revealed the Spring Musical, Spamalot, in a video compilation of the program’s previous shows. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 postponed the Shakespearean parody for five years. SPHS Drama will revive the musical during the weekend of April 25, 2025.
Next, Band and Orchestra joined together to perform Sleigh Ride, after which Commissioner of Clubs Chaemin Lim and Commissioner of Internal Affairs Sawyer Donaldson introduced the Winter Formal ask-out video competition. Displayed during the assembly, the top three videos received various discounts for Winter Formal tickets. The third place video, stylized like a 1920s silent film, won a 25 percent discount on two tickets.
Orchestra accompanied sophomore Kiana Čanigova and junior Andrés Urzua as they sang White Christmas. Their performance was followed by the second place ask-out video, a parody of a reality TV dating show, which won a 50 percent discount on two tickets. Dance then put on a performance to the song Darling, I by Tyler, The Creator.
The first place video, winning two free tickets to Winter Formal, showed Lee and senior Emmett Mendel reenacting the famous Stella scene from the play A Streetcar Named Desire. After the video, Lee, Lim, and Donaldson joined together with the audience to wish Mr. Shotwell a happy birthday.
Dance then put on a ballet performance of Waltz of the Flowers, after which Lee sang his rendition of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You and asked freshman E.J. Pearson to be his date to Winter Formal.
An announcement video revealed the Winter Formal venue as the Petersen Automotive Museum, paired with a “cyberpunk” theme. The dance will take place on Feb. 8, 2025, and tickets will be on sale after Winter Break.
“The building’s architecture is already very futuristic, so cyberpunk fits that style,” Commissioner of Activities Danielle Bass said. “We wanted to go all out for this Winter Formal.”
The assembly came to an end with school announcements, including candy cane gram sales during lunch that day and the free ice skating event hosted by ASB at the Pasadena Ice Skating Center that evening.
