Mercer Island High School 9100 SE 42nd St. Mercer Island, WA 98040
Islander
MERCER IS SCHOOL DIST 400
Winter formal O L O T “ Asha Woerner
Editor in Chief
MIHS, long home to the dance TOLO (Tabs On Ladies Only), has shifted to calling its winter dance Winter Formal in an attempt to create a more inclusive environment for all students. “TOLO was originally a dance that was created at UW [University of Washington] that stood for Tabs On Ladies Only, which encouraged girls to ask guys to the dance,” ASB President Ainsley McCarthy said. This type of dance originated to highlight female empowerment and break the tradition that boys have to ask girls. “There were students who really liked the tradition and the fact that there is female empowerment behind the tradition, but when it all came down to it, students supported doing a more inclusive event where no one felt left out,” ASB Advisor Toby Swanson said. The idea to switch the dance name was originally brought up by the previous QSA President Chase Schubert during the 2021-2022 school year. In an email to administrators, Schubert stated, “This antiquated custom may have been accepted in the past but has no place in our modern society where young women should feel empowered at all times, not just for one dance. Additionally, while school dances can be a wonderfully fun activity, the particular concept of TOLO excludes LGBTQ students.”
Though last year’s leadership did not opt to part from the name TOLO, the email planted the seed for this year’s team to make the change. “We had a discussion last year in Leadership about this, a lot of the people last year who have now graduated were clinging to tradition more than the kids at MIHS now,” McCarthy said. “We do not have any attachment to the name TOLO, and if it offends a small group of people then we do not want to hurt anyone.”
The vision for the dance that Leadership hopes will be integrated into MIHS culture is that anyone can ask anyone and the pressure of asking a date of a certain gender is lifted off of students. “What I would tell a student, is to ask whomever you want to ask, no matter race, gender, sex, whatever. Just ask whomever you want to go with, and that can be a friend, that can be a romantic partner, it can be anyone, even someone not from the school,” Leadership student Meli Nierderkorn said. “If you want to go stag, go stag, dance on your own.” “We came at it at the angle that the students might not want to be in a hetero relationship with a girl and a guy, so we decided to encourage everybody to ask everybody,” McCarthy said. The Leadership class is hoping that Winter Formal will be a step in destigmatizing nonheterosexual couples, and put less emphasis on straight relationships. “I really hope to see more acknowledgement of our different communities that we have here at Mercer Island High School, and with that acknowledgement, I hope our whole student body will push for some more change,” Niederkorn said. “Accessible gender neutral bathrooms is something that we have also been working hard at.” The Leadership class is aware of the challenge to change students’ way of thinking about this dance. “I would like to see some of those old traditions change personally, but I do realize that there are some students who will still hold those old traditions, even if the school isn’t doing a dance called TOLO,” Swanson said. “Frankly we are still working on the personal piece,” Niederkorn said. “How do we get people to stop saying ‘TOLO’ and start saying ‘Winter Formal,’ TOLO is pretty catchy and it is pretty indicative of Mercer Island.” The name Winter Formal, though not an acronym like TOLO, is intended to be catchy, so it can easily be inserted into students’ vocabulary. “Our main goal with calling it Winter Formal was to keep it short, so that people could switch easily from TOLO to Winter Formal and it brings the same kind of school spirit, which is having a dance and just seeing your friends,” McCarthy said. This event used to be planned by the Senior Service club, but because it is no longer a club, Leadership has taken over the dance’s planning. This means that Winter Formal this year will act as a fundraiser to offset the costs of Senior Prom. Graphic by Taylor Holshouser “We might lean towards a winter theme, it is also close to Valentine’s Day so we might also play into that theme,” McCarthy said. The event, though still in the early stages of planning, is set to on Feb 11. Leadership wants to ask students to be open-minded. They are aware that this is a big shift for students, but are hoping MIHS students will adapt to this change so everyone feels like they belong at Winter Formal.
This antiquated custom may have been accepted in the past but has no place in our modern society
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District Replaces iPads with LeapPads Braeden Nett
Website Manager
Following extensive testing of potential devices to replace iPads at Islander Middle School and Mercer Island High School, MISD has selected LeapFrog Tablets to supplant district-issued iPads. In a recent newsletter on the district’s website, the reasoning behind the decision was explained to be based on a need to “cut unnecessary spending.” “The Mercer Island School District has determined that buying 6,000 LeapFrog Tablets in bulk for 40 dollars on Alibaba is more fiscally sustainable than the current contractual obligation with Apple for the procurement of iPads,” the newsletter said. The district intends to use funds being spent on iPad purchases to be reutilized to fund a complete remodel of the teacher’s lounge, which will add a sauna, a petting zoo with two therapy alpacas plus a tortoise, and a bin full of RC cars. Along with the remodel, there are plans to increase the number of available amenities for students. “Initially we intend to have a staff member poke
students with a meterstick to indicate that it’s their turn to enter the singular ball pit in the gym. After a few months the number of ball pits will increase to three if funding permits,” a district official said. Most students don’t care about the removal of iPads, as they are too busy online Graphic by Taylor Holshouser
shopping, completing college applications, or looking at NSFW sites on their laptops. However, there have been some detractors who have voiced concerns via email about the adoption of LeapFrog tablets. The district’s response to these emails was to reply back with a ‘Wojack’ meme depicting the students as the ‘Soyjack’ and the school administration as the ‘Chad’ while having the bottom of the meme show bolded text “Seethe and Cope.” “When I sent my email with my concerns about how the school was spending money, I received a meme that was so poorly edited that I can’t even get offended by it. It’s sad to think that a human being made this,” junior Tom Shaffer said. Despite some pushback from the student body regarding the procurement of LeapFrog tablets, the district has remained adamant that the decision to replace iPads will “maximize students’ educational experience and prepare them to be maltreated repeatedly by the powers that be in their adult lives.”