By Camden Andl ’19
THE ROUNDUP
Friday, Aug. 18, Brophy will once again hold its annual Frosh Mixer from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
However, what makes this dance different from years past is that the Frosh Mixer will not exclusively be a dance held in the Great Hall.
Student Council faculty leader Mr. Pete Burr ’07 said that, although Student Council has been preparing for the Frosh Mixer since the new council was assembled in May, the idea of the newly formatted Frosh Mixer has been in the works for around two or three years.
This ‘new’ Frosh Mixer entails not only a dance in the Brophy plaza, but also includes opening up the aquatic center for swimming and diving, an inflatable movie screen allowing students to relax and socialize, as well as music and food trucks.
Student Council member Nik Kirk ’19 said that the freshmen should be looking forward to mingling with their new peers, and that he believes the new format of the Frosh Mixer will allow that to happen more successfully than in years past.
“Before, the Frosh Mixer was just a big, sweaty mosh pit and freshman really didn’t get to meet each other, talk and form new friendships,” Kirk said. “It might have been fun for the kids who already knew a bunch of people, but for the majority of kids who didn’t know more than ten people, it wasn’t forming true friendships.”
Many freshmen are also looking forward to how the Frosh Mixer is being held this year.
Freshman Max Kerkhove ’21 said that he thinks having more options like opening the pool will make the mixer more enjoyable.
“I’ve only been to one dance, which was last year, in junior high,” Kerkhove said. “And only being able to dance got boring after a while, so I think it will be good to have the pool.”
Kerkhove also added that being able to interact and hang out with the other freshmen in the pool could help to get to know one another.
“If you’re in the pool and you see people swimming around and racing each other, you’ll be able to know if they swim or if they dive, so you could find out some of their interests just from that,” Kerkhove said. “I’m hoping to meet some new guys and girls, and maybe to ask one of the girls to the dance next week.”
Both Kirk and Mr. Burr said that Xavier has been very supportive of the new format and like that it is giving the students a different way to meet and mingle.
“It’s obviously Xavier’s girls’ first interaction with Brophy and their first event in terms of an activity that they’ll go to outside of school,” Mr. Burr said. “We’re always sharing thoughts with Xavier and that kind of led to the idea of giving the freshmen more than a dance.”
Mr. Burr said Student Council thinks if they provide a space for the freshmen to hang out, that wholesome interactions will happen.
“We’re just giving the kids an opportunity to exist and I think that if anyone on this campus thinks back to how they made friends, it was probably because a friend of a friend of a friend introduced them to a friend that became their friend,” Mr. Burr said. “And that’s how connections are formed—we want to give freshmen a safe, fun, organized space just to be themselves.”