Youth Governor's Inaugural Ball

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Friday night, massive lines formed on the second floor of the Crowne Plaza as MGA delegates impatiently waited for the cocktail dinner being prepared for them. When the floodgates opened at 6, students and teachers alike poured into the rooms to check out the delicious array of foods before us. Among other dishes, the menu included stir fry, fried rice, ham, chicken satay, and swedish meatballs. On the other side of the floor was MGA's World of Chocolate, where hungry MGA-goers could find a chocolate fountain, three kinds of chocolate fondue, mountains of foods to dip in chocolate, and some adorable dessert bowls. Everyone ate, drank, and was merry.

Soon enough, we moved into the ballroom to listen once more to the campaign speeches of those running for 2012 offices. It was standing room only, since the ballroom had been partly cleared out for dinner. Of those who could not find seats, some stood, some sat on the floor, and some pushed chairs together to form benches to fit more people. All of the candidates did a fantastic job delivering their speeches. Once everyone voted and turned in their ballots, we made our way upstairs to prepare for the Youth Governor's Inaugural Ball. Some waited for the elevator, some took the stairs. Some combined ideas and either went to the lobby to catch the elevator first, or went to other floors to get on as others got off. I ended up getting crowd surged into an elevator (and apparently knocking some people out of it in the process), which was a fun experience.

At 8:30 the dance began, and by 9 the room was packed with pumped up, sweaty teenagers. For those who wanted a break from the dancefloor, pitchers of water were set up just outside the ballroom, and a game room was set up in the room opposite. Personally, I spent some time in the game room playing Wii Resort and a game of Apples to Apples that included about a dozen people, but I stopped in every so often to check out the dance, too. Both rooms were open until midnight, though a number of delegates headed up to their rooms earlier, to get some chill time before lights out. Anyone who happened to be on floor 13 probably heard the noise as a big group of us crowded into a room to play Just Dance 2 ;)

Overall, the night was very entertaining. The YMCA and Crowne Plaza staff did a fantastic job putting the dinner and ball together, and everyone had a great time and fully exhausted themselves just in time for closing sessions.

- Shannon Payne, Kecoughtan

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