ROTC held their annual Military Ball for the first time since covid restrictions postponed the event.

“This is the first time that cadets have planned the Military Ball,” Ana de la Pena said.
While planning the POW (Prisoners of War) MIA (Missing in action) ceremony the planning committee found it one of the hardest parts.

“We started practice two, almost three months ago and we had them Monday through Thursday, but on Monday and Tuesday we cut off early because we all have to work,” Shyanne Cornelison said.

To fill in time they chose to have a speaker.

“We chose one of the board of directors, Tom Jackson, because we had heard a lot about him and how he was wise,” Pena said.

Having a photo booth was a new addition to the Ball that the cadets included.

“We thought it would be a really good idea because a lot of people forget to take pictures,” Cornelison said. “ The photos people do take aren’t going to be good because they can’t get good lighting.”

The main event of the ball is the ceremony.

“You wanna see the ceremony,” Aurora Cadena said. “I keep mentioning the ceremony because it’s a very important part of the ball. I feel like that’s the biggest to me.”

Because it is an extremely formal event, there was a dress code.

¨The guys go in their Class A uniform which is like the dress blues that you see, but with the actual service coat and tie,¨ Cadena said. ¨Girls have two options, they can either wear the same uniform or they can go out and buy a dress that had to go past the knees.¨

The committee learned a lot about party planning from the Berry Center staff.

“So we had to decide the menu from the specific options they had and calculate the price,” Pena said. “It was complicated because we had never planned an event. We had to assume how many people would go and calculate the price of each thing according to the estimate of people. It was a long process.”
The Ball also counts as the cadets’ Final exam.

¨It was a motivation getter for people to come and join but it didn’t affect the planning,” Cornelison said. ¨So our freshman year, that’s how it was when we got here and its been like that throughout all the years.¨

Having the Military Ball also be the final helps the planners reach their participation goal.

“I feel like it’s really just to make us all come together,” Cadena said. “It’s something just you don’t wanna miss.”