Over winter break, students received invitations to the Winter Gala to be held on campus upon returning. The Winter Gala is open to all students, and tickets are free. The gala was originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21, the second Friday of the spring semester. 

After successfully completing the 2021 fall semester through the pandemic, the Division of Student Life wanted to do something for students to congratulate them on a healthy and safe fall semester and wish students luck at  the start of the new semester. After receiving the invitations in the mail, many students jumped to reserve their free ticket for the formal. 

However, disappointment struck when the Division of Student Life sent out an email on Tuesday, Jan. 18. In the midst of the Omicron spike of the coronavirus, at the University itself as well as globally, numbers of positive COVID-19 cases were too high to safely host the Winter Gala for the student body. In the email, the new date of the Gala was announced: two weeks later than originally scheduled, on Friday, Feb. 4. To reassure those who were upset by the postponed date after looking forward to the formal on Jan. 21, the Division of Student Life included a poem called “The Rescheduled Gala: A Poem” in the same email to address everyone’s concerns. 

“The Villanova Winter Gala is going to be great,

But COVID numbers are high, so we postponed the date.

It’s only two more weeks until the fun can commence.

Tell your friends to get tickets if they are still on the fence.”

For students who were worried about the validity of the tickets they had already reserved, the email assured that existing reserved tickets would remain valid for the new date. The Winter Gala will now be held from 9 p.m. until midnight on Feb. 4 in the Connelly Center. Shuttles will run from South and West Campus throughout the duration of the formal for students who do not want to walk in their formal attire. Although postponed, there is still much to look forward to regarding the Winter Formal. Students attending can anticipate a night full of food, drinks, dancing, live performances, casino games, a DJ, other various entertainment and mingling with fellow students. Also, for students who are 21 and older, beer, wine and champagne will be available. 

As it is a Winter Formal, formal attire is requested for those in attendance. For those wondering what formal attire entails, an article from The Shift titled “The Ultimate Guide to Formal Attire” says that “While there are exceptions for different situations, the formality of a dress tends to depend on length and tailoring. Typically formal dresses are floor-length.” 

So, for those planning on wearing dresses to Winter Formal, a floor-length dress is the way to go. An article from The Knot says, “Men can wear a tuxedo, but they don’t have to—a dark suit and tie are also appropriate. Dress shoes fit the bill when it comes to footwear. Consider patent leather loafers for a tux or laced oxfords for a suit.” 

Although many were looking forward to the formal during the second week of school as a nice welcome back to campus before the semester picked up, students can still look forward to a night of fun, even though it is two weeks later than originally planned.