Will You Go to JSB With…

Sarah Tan

With the year’s most glamorous evening encroaching, excitement has filled the high school hallways in anticipation of the next boy who will valorously invite his special girl to the JSB.

As the Junior Senior Banquet (JSB) is just around the corner, boys are rushing around the island in attempt to buy exquisite bouquets of flowers and testing their artistic skills by drawing and designing creative posters. Girls are being bombarded with origami, handed a trail of mysterious notes, and even left to find a self-crafted wooden spear in their lockers.

Tension and anxiety are mounting among the boys as they try to decide who their lucky girl will be and then embark on the dauntless task of finding a way to amaze her, leaving her in awe of his charismatic charm. Meanwhile, suspicious thrill and butterflies are swarming the girls as boys are dropping “subtle” hints, avoiding them, or suddenly chatting to their friends every day in attempt to discover more about them.

The JSB is an annual banquet organized—in secret—completely by the junior class and its sponsors as a way of honoring the senior class. Although the night itself is beyond spectacular, a unique and extremely entertaining aspect of the event is the “askings.” The sophomore, junior, and senior boys advance to the status of “men” as they brave up the nerve to ask the beautiful ladies to attend the banquet with them. The boys do a magnificent job of scheming imaginative and original plans to ask their friends or significant others the key question of, “Will you go to JSB with me?”

This was the case for David Unruh (11), who devised a complex proposal by pretending to be the peacemaker between two of his peers, Benjamin Finlay (11) and Aaron Chand (11), who faked a standoff to win over Chloe Castro (11). After accepting Unruh’s invitation with a “yes” on Monday, 14 March, Castro said, “It was exciting and reminded me of the stories I’ve heard about in the past. I wasn’t sure who it was because my friends had purposefully tricked and confused me as to who was asking. It was super creative and quite funny.”

Perhaps the most elaborate asking of the year, even involving rehearsals throughout the week, was a flash mob performance of the song “Uptown Funk” by Jonathan Park (12) to Kassy Steinkamp (12) at the PTO Food and Fun Fair on Friday, 18 March. As Steinkamp is an avid dancer, Park choreographed hip and trendy moves to this hit single and enlisted the help of his senior friends to sweep Steinkamp off her feet. To his great relief, the dance was a success; Park reflected, “Despite our lack of practice, just the fact that we were able to pull off a flash mob was so fun and exciting. I am so thankful for all my friends who helped because they gifted me with an unforgettable memory.”

Asking season therefore has been a thrill for the high school students involved as well as the rest of the student body and staff who have been delighted and enlivened by this outburst of spirit. In addition to being purposeful for the upcoming JSB, askings break the rigid structure and stressful air during this hectic time of the year as a truly unique, iconic, and memorable aspect of Dalat tradition.