The idea for the Spring Fling came to the tenth-grade class president, Luke Iacono ’25, three years ago when the current seniors hosted a spring fling, but the tradition stopped the following year.
Iacono said, “It’s our sophomore year, so let’s try and bring it back.” He continued: “Prom is open to everyone, but it’s mostly for juniors and seniors, so we thought it would be a good idea to create a dance for the [ninth graders] and sophomores around this time.” A big part of the planning process was consulting the past classes and figuring out what worked for their Spring Fling and what didn’t. The ninth-grade class officers took some inspiration from the past Spring Fling, like “the fact that it’s outside of the oval … and the general style and the country club dress attire.”
Planning for the return of the Spring Fling was hard, according to Iacono: “We [had] the plan to have some sort of food truck, which is pretty unique from other dances, and that’s the hardest part of planning.” Even though planning a dance is challenging, Iacono is confident that “all of the work we’ve put into getting a food truck will pay off, and [that] it can be a cool new thing that other events could have in the future.”
The backbone of the event, the tenth grade class officers (L-R): Miles Wilkins, Mason Levens, Luke Iacono, and Maya DeAndrea.
There are a lot of big components of the Spring Fling, but tenth grade class treasurer, Mason Levens ’25, stated that “Mr. Miller is very efficient about getting events passed … we worked with him over a timeline so we could make sure different checkpoints [and aspects] of the dance were approved.” Levens continued: “[The tenth grade class officers worked on decorations, food, and music separately and Mr. Miller approved each individual part.”
Levens stated that the main reason the tenth grade class officers planned this dance was “in lieu of prom for underclassmen so they can feel more comfortable attending [another event].”
As the event nears, underclassmen are becoming increasingly excited to go to the dance. Jade McRae ’26 mentioned that she is excited for the Spring Fling because “there [aren’t] a lot of events in the spring [for the underclassmen].” McRae also mentioned that she’s excited because of all of the activities, including “the lawn games, the food truck, and also dancing with my friends.”
Brielle Mitchell ’25 agreed with McRae: “I’m very excited for the food trucks and to dress up and get ready with my friends.” She continued, “Food from a truck is always better, and I’m sure the food will be really good.” Mitchell is also excited for TurbanJay’s performance because, “some live entertainment will be good for the Spring Fling to hype up the crowd.”
After his show-stopping performance at the talent show, and the success of his new EP “Turbanator,” the tenth grade class officers knew they had to have Jaiwant Singh ’26, known under the stage name of TurbanJay, debut his new song at the Spring Fling. Singh was excited when he was asked to perform at the dance because “it’s a great way to get my music out there … and everyone starts somewhere, so this is where it begins.”
Singh’s new track features Z’Nichi Steave ’25 and Matthew Will ’25 and is about “talking and rapping about what’s on our mind,” according to Singh. Even though this is only TurbanJay’s second live performance in front of the Upper School, he still feels “excited even though [he] doesn’t know how the crowd is going to react to it.”
With the many components that go into the Spring Fling, Iacono hopes that the sophomore class officers “[will give underclassmen] a night to have fun.”
The dance will be held on May 5th outside on the Oval and will feature lawn games, dancing, food trucks and other activities. Additionally the ninth-grade song producer TurbanJay will perform a new song during the night. The entry is $10 per person and the attire theme is “country club” which constitutes sundresses and collared shirts.
