Zero Genie

STAMFORD — The Academy of Information Technology & Engineering held its annual Monster Ball on the night of Oct. 25. This spooky-themed dance is held every year in the month of October from 7-11 p.m. This year the Monster Ball was organized by the senior class, including last year’s class officers, President Ejne Ndokwu, Vice President Larry Bello-Castillo, Secretary Michaiah Boykin, and Treasurer Trisha Gulappa.

Students began planning the dance in the beginning of the school year. Before proceeding, Jessica Prince, senior class adviser and music teacher, gave students a head start with a number of decoration and ticket selling ideas, which the students then later built upon. Boykin and Ndokwu organized the decorations and the ticket design. Ndokwu, Boykin, and Gulappa sold tickets relentlessly, in addition to setting everything up at the dance and cleaning it up. Bello also helped with cleanup. Students did all of this under Prince’s guidance. She and other teachers, like science teacher Micheal Gasidlo and Spanish teacher Raquel Bonessi, worked on collecting the tickets at the door.

After issues at previous dances, security was tight. Tickets were not sold at the door and had to be purchased for $10 beforehand. Upon entering, students walked up to the tables where the teachers were, and handed in their tickets. Students had to fill out their name, school, and grade. They were then given a wristband.

The dance started at 7 p.m., but people began coming around 7:30 p.m., hitting the dance floor around 7:45 p.m. The senior class hired a DJ for the event, and word spread that day that Senior Judeley Jean Charles would be performing.

Jean Charles has been making music for a while now and said, “I love the energy of everyone listening to my music.”

He asked Prince and she was happy to have some student talent at the dance.

Jean Charles confessed, “I was nervous and was going to cancel.”

He stated, “I had people that were saying I shouldn’t and stuff but then I said why not, try some experiences and maybe get my music out there. I tried my best and wasn’t going to let anything bring me down in the moment and I just flowed with it.”

According to students that were there, many enjoyed the show. One student said, “His performance was the highlight of the dance. I’ve never listened to his music before, but he radiated such positive energy and vibes that it made the night so much better. He got everyone hyped.”

“The overall experience planning was fun and it wasn’t too stressful, the most stressful part was making sure people showed up so it would be successful,” stated Ndokwu. One of their greatest challenges was selling tickets, as not a lot of people usually come to the Monster Ball and instead prefer Homecoming. Despite this, 160 tickets were sold this year, which is close to last year’s number of 180. The class ended up making a little over $1,000 of profit.

“Overall I’m very happy with the dance,” Ndokwu stated. “Everyone who came seemed to have had a good time.”

Lorrie Solonynka is a sophomore at Stamford’s Academy of Information Technology & Engineering and a writer for the school’s paper, AITE Edge.