On Feb. 17, 2017, DVHS Leadership is holding its second annual Spring Dance, titled Aquapalooza. For the first time ever, proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to a charity, Charity: Water.

Charity: Water is a non-profit organization that builds wells in developing nations to provide clean and safe drinking water. Investors in the organization handle the coverage costs of its endeavors so that every cent earned by fundraisers goes to building a well. According to Sophomore Class Secretary Christine Aredo, this charity was chosen because “water is a necessity for all human life— something that everyone needs. Water is something that no one can really live without and in Africa people don’t have clean water which we take for granted every day.”

This dance marks the first time that Leadership has donated proceeds to charity. Junior Class Vice President Rahul Reddy stated that “I think last year we had a lot of leftover funds from Homecoming and we were like “what can we do with this that can really make an impact— and last year what we did was we made the free shirts for powderpuff— so we kind of got inspired [by] Mr. Wildcat when they donated 10 percent of their funds to Capes for Heroes and so we really decided to just run with that whole idea of taking those funds— that charity idea— and just putting it all together to do something that’s bigger than just like— we’re a very privileged community, obviously, and so we wanted to do something that was bigger than just ourselves where we could involve the whole community.”

Leadership students set a goal of $10000 to raise in order to achieve their goal of building a well in a developing country. To achieve this, leadership vowed to donate 100 percent of the ticket proceeds to the charity. Additionally, multiple fundraisers are being held during the week leading up to the dance and an option to donate without committing to going to the dance is available on the DVHS Webstore.

The option of donating 100 percent of ticket proceeds without suffering a deficit was made possible by a surplus from Homecoming, as well as the financial support of various corporations.  Reddy noted, “For donations, we’re trying to get corporate matches, and we’re also trying to see if companies would sponsor us for things like food and water, and if they would give us discounts since all the money is going towards charity.” Similarly, in order to make sure all of its donors’ money is being used towards building a well, Charity: Water’s coverage costs are covered by investors.

In order to spread the word about the dance, leadership students are having presentations for middle school students at Windemere Ranch informing them about the charity and its cause. Additionally, Access presentations are held to inform the Dougherty student body. Aredo says, “One of my favorite things about the dance is that because we already so passionate about what the charity is, we’re also expanding our passions to the rest of the student body. We’ve been doing Access presentations to educate the rest of the student body about Charity Water and why we’re doing it. Seeing everyone else also becoming passionate about the charity is one of my favorite parts.” Reddy adds, “I think it’s really something different than our school has ever done before because it impacts something way outside our community, something that actually makes a difference in the world, not just benefiting ourselves.

The name of the dance is a portmanteau of the popular music festival “Lollapalooza”, and the cause of the charity to which the ticket proceeds were being donated to. This name continues the trend of naming the Spring Dance after popular music festivals, last year’s dance being named “Doachella” after the festival “Coachella”.

One difference from last year’s Spring Dance is the prevalence of wristbands similar to those given at most music festivals as a souvenir. The dance will also present attendees with lots of photo opportunities, including photo booths.

Tickets will be sold for $10 through the webstore Feb. 1 through Feb. 15.