‘Staying chaste’ at Niedformal

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‘Staying chaste’ at Niedformal
Freshman Haakon Santaella and Rachel Smith dance the night away under the Searle Center lights. Jordyn Pair | Collegian

“Most of all, stay chaste.”

The room erupted into laughter as senior and Niedfeldt House Director Mitchell Moutard walked off the stage, the signal to officially start the award ceremonies. The Niedfeldt Residence Hall formal was off to a roaring start.

Featuring a dinner catered by Bon Appetit, a tongue-in-cheek awards ceremony, and dancing, the formal is an opportunity for the residents of Niedfeldt to dress up and bring a date to a formal event. The dorm used to do a formal every year, until the tradition ended.

This year’s Resident Assistant team started the tradition up again, hosting it this past Saturday in the Searle Center. Around 80 people — residents and dates — attended.

“This is way classier than a date party,” junior RA Sam Cassels said. “It’s a privilege of being a smaller dorm.”

The formal is sponsored by Phyllis Niedfeldt, who donates money specifically for the formal.

“She wants them to know etiquette and classy dining,” Associate Dean of Men Jeffrey Rogers said. “It’s not often students get to dress up.”

The awards ceremony included honors like “Best Sideburns,” “Most Likely to Live at Taco Bell,” and “Most Likely to Not Be Named Niedfeldt,” awarded to Andrew Simpson.

“I’m very glad we had this,” sophomore RA Quinn Crago said. Crago won the award “Most Likely to Be On Eight Intramural Teams.”

Each resident also brought a date to the event.

“For at least half the guys, that’s a good thing,” Crago joked.

After the awards show, they dimmed the lights and turned on pop songs. The residents and their dates started dancing, joining together in one big dance circle. A few stragglers hugged the outskirts of the dance floor as the rest of the group bopped to the beat. One or two couples paired off, dancing to the side. A pair of boys galloped around the room in a quasi-polka before eventually breaking down into laughter.

One date, freshman Christine Mitchell, hovered on the side, watching the dancing.

“The atmosphere of Niedfeldt, you can’t really encapsulate it,” she said, “you have to just watch.”