Spanish teacher Sara Brown has some advice for girls looking to ask boys to Turnabout.
Step 1: Don’t “do the most.”

“I playfully tell them not to have these boys running around thinking they’re cute!” Brown said. “I let the girls know to be wise and not to be desperate. Some girls ask boys to Turnabout like they are proposing!”

She said most boys want girls to “do the most” when asking, but wouldn’t want to see their own future daughters “go above and beyond for a boy like that.”

Turnabout is Saturday, Feb. 21 at Mokena DiNolfo’s, and this year’s theme is “A Night Under the Stars.”
Traditionally, Turnabout is the dance where girls get out of their comfort zones and ask guys to the dance.

Brown said she remembers when she asked a boy to her Turnabout.

“I felt nervous because the roles were reversed, so it didn’t feel ‘natural’ for me,” she said. “I had to step out of my comfort zone by showing an interest in a guy and take the initiative to ask him to be my date.”

Despite Brown’s advice, some girls go all out to ask boys to the dance.

“When I was at a different school, this young lady walks into my room, and she was kind of nervous,” English teacher Javin Cotton said. “And she asks me to leave a note on another a student’s desk, and when he opens it there was clue to another note.”

Brown says she followed her own advice about playing it cool.

“I didn’t do anything spectacular when I asked. But, I remember that Turnabout was about mustering up the confidence,” Brown said, “To ask a guy face-to-face and hope that he said yes. Thankfully, mine did!”

Some students think Turnabout will be interesting this year.

“I’m excited to go to Turnabout this year because it’s my first one, and I’ll spend time with my friends,” junior Alyssa Beverly said. “I know Turnabout will be fun because I won’t be there alone, thanks to my friends.”

Others won’t even bother thinking about it.

“It’s a waste of time and money,” senior Maddie Harris said. “Besides, I could go do something that’s cheaper and still have more fun than any lame school dance.”

A common misconception is that students need to be asked by someone to go, but in reality, a date isn’t required.

“My girlfriend might have a speech tournament that day, and I wouldn’t want to go without her,” Senior Ryan Thomas said. “To me, Turnabout is all about going to the dance with a date, and also most of my friends aren’t going anyway.”

Beverly is excited for Turnabout because it’s her first time.

“Even though this is going to be the first Turnabout I go to, I know it will be awesome, and I will pump it up with all of my friends,” Beverly said.

English teacher Jill Bonavia says girls are more creative now than they were in her day.

“I think students have a great deal of fun devising creative ways to ask each other to dances,” she said. “When I was in high school, people just went up to someone and asked him or her to a dance; there were no elaborate invitations. That is a newer phenomenon.”