It was midterm week for Lower Merion High School. With students averaging two tests a day, the only thing that was getting them by was the school dance that was to be held that Saturday. On Wednesday, in between the testing an announcement came on over the loud speaker announcing that the school dance was cancelled. It was bad news for our whole school. All the students were so disappointed. Walking through the halls to get to my next test, my friends and I heard everyone talking and complaining. No one could believe it and no one wanted to go to their next class just to sit there for over an hour to take yet another a test. After our final test for that day, I met with three of my in the lobby to talk about the dance. We decided to talk to the athletic director who was in charge of all school events. He told us the reason the dance was cancelled was because it was mandatory to have a minimum of ten chaperones attend hold a dance, and those people on student council who were in charge of finding the parents, had not gotten enough chaperones by the deadline. My friends and I decided to take the situation into our own hands. The athletic director said that was fine, as long as it was not affiliated with the school at all. That day we called every place we could think of that could hold enough students to have our own dance. We persevered until we finally found the right place. The Jewish Community Center; referred to as the JCC. It was big, it was convenient, and most importantly it was affordable.

The word about our dance was starting to spread fast. School dances normally cost ten dollars, so for the next two days during school we collected money from the students so we would be able to pay for the room. Everyone was very excited that the four of us had gotten together to create this dance. At normal school dances, although not permitted, many students tend to drink prior to entering the dance. We knew we would not be able to have ten chaperones at the JCC, but we insisted on having several chaperones attend to watch over the kids. We were very clear with every ticket sold to tell the kids to come safe and not go crazy, knowing that we could not control them should they choose to drink prior to entering what was now our dance.

After a lot of time and effort, the night of the dance had finally come! My friends and I spent all of Saturday preparing for the dance. We wanted it to be special so we decorated the room with whatever we could scrounge up and hung white lights throughout the room, we burnt CD’s and got together as much music as we could.. At 7:30 PM the kids started arriving. It was supposed to be the perfect night. No homework for the weekend, because testing just ended, and a night of fun. The dance was supposed to go until 10:30, but as you will soon find out, only lasted about an hour.

Many of the freshmen who came to the dance, decided to drink before, but believed that because there were not as many chaperones, they could abuse how much they drank. Many of them entered the JCC out of control and but there were two in particular who changed the whole evening. The JCC is located in Wynnewood, an area where many people from our school live, so it was in walking distance. One freshman came so drunk that she had fallen in her skirt six times on the way to the JCC. When she walked into the dance she had blood dripping down her legs, and had gotten frost bite because she had fallen in the snow. Since my friends and I had created this dance, we felt responsible for these girls. I spent the rest of the night cleaning her legs, holding her head over a trashcan, holding her up, and finally realized I needed to contact her parents. The other freshman spent the hour of the dance in the bathroom as well. She was a very small girl and I had come to find she had taken nine shots prior to the dance She was throwing up and passed out in the bathroom. She had fallen onto the floor and on the way down hit her chin on the sink counter and was bleeding everywhere. The four of us had never seen anything like this, so we called for an ambulance. That’s when the dance was officially over. Everyone had left except for those of us in charge. The police had to come, sent everyone home and, everything we had worked so hard for was now just a disaster.

It was not until this dance that even I realized who I was. I suddenly realized that if something is important enough to me I will do something about it. I never did, and still do not, consider myself a leader yet I am not afraid about speaking up or afraid to take charge of a situation. From the very beginning, when something fell through, I took it into my own hands. In events like this dance or group projects, if no one else is making the effort to do anything, I will take the initiative. And in the end, I took responsibility for my actions. I took care of the freshmen girls, I contacted their parents as well as the police, and when the parents, the ambulance and the police came, I stayed because I was the one responsible for this event. As disappointed as I was about the outcome of the dance, I am very proud of the fact that with the help of my friends we did our best to create this dance. It is unfortunate that 2 people could ruin it for so many, and that I never did really get to enjoy a dance. Yet I knew it was my responsibility to care for these girls. In the end, I view myself as responsible and accountable for my actions.

LaxerSelfNarrative - Started off by using a quote