Since its announcement, Charity Ball tickets have been the hype amongst Enloe scholars; groups making plans for the night, Student Council appearing on The ‘Loe Down, people picking out dresses and suits, chatter about who their dates will be, and just having an overall fun night with all of their friends- that’s what most people thought at least. Rumors started to spread like wildfire, some saying that tickets would be limited per class, ticket prices would be high, people were going to ‘scalp’ their tickets and resell them for 3 times the original price, and that tickets would sell out right at 7. These ruffled Eagle’s feathers madestakes to get a precious ticket higher than ever. 

On November 17th, social media was flooded with students sitting at their computers at 6:59, credit card in hand, anxiously waiting for the sales to open up. When tickets finally dropped at 7pm after what felt like forever, students breathed a sigh of relief that they’d got their hands on a “Golden Ticket”, but many students were disappointed to find that they didn’t get so lucky with a ticket after all and had to resort to the waitlist. The next day, there were people buzzing about being one of the prized 200 in their grade level, people who just didn’t care, but an overall sense of grief had struck the Enloe halls. Not only that, but complaints spread to parents as well, some taking to Facebook to express their disappointment in their children not getting a ticket.

After seeing the impact the ticket sales had on students,  I asked around to get some opinions on this year’s ticket system- here’s what people had to say.

Most of the students deemed the buying experience ‘stressful’, sophomore Kelly Layug compared it to a “limited sneaker drop”. The website itself had crashed due to the amount of traffic, causing students to be unable to get a ticket because of lag. “When I opened my student email and got on, the website did that thing where it crashed and said the event didn’t exist or kept loading.” said senior Mason Rheinhardt, a beloved Eagle’s Eye staff writer, “After [refreshing] like 5 or 6 times, I realized that they had sold out and my heart sank. I texted my friends to see if they had gotten theirs and they all had, but I have hope that I’m going to go because of the waiting list.”  Not only was the ability to buy tickets down, but so was the waitlist after tickets had been sold: “[..] Which was frustrating. It was my fault for not buying a ticket immediately after they were released, but it’s insane that the competition surrounding getting a ticket was so intense that even 5 minutes after would have been too late,” an Enloe senior stated.

Additionally, some say that the way students handled the hype and added to it contributed to the sell out. A student said, “As seniors, this year is our last year to attend after having missed last year due to COVID-19… With stories circulating of students reselling tickets for 3x their value, the stress and hype behind attending Charity Ball definitely got out of hand. The way tickets were marketed by StuCo and talked about by students, it was like they were luxury goods- the fact that they were limited in quantity artificially boosted demand.“ Seamus Scranton added,“I feel like there was a different way they could have done it, [something] less reliant on an internet connection and where you were at the time.” Others said they faced stress that wasn’t needed: “I don’t think the amount of stress students had was necessary- it’s a school dance!” says Adalina Kaul. On the other hand, some said the stress was normal, one Eagle’s Eye writer said, “People had a necessary reaction because of how awesome Charity Ball is. As someone who’s gone to Charity Ball twice, I’m proud to talk about Charity Ball with family, friends, and other people who don’t go to Enloe.” Another said,  “The students’ stress was justified due to the small amount of tickets.”

Students were mixed with Student Council’s statements on The ‘Loe Down, “You better get your tickets quick, they’re going to sell out right at 7!” Kaul said, “The statements kind of stressed me out because I have a busy life and I was worried I wouldn’t have time to sit down and buy tickets.” Another student asked “…I didn’t think that the tickets would sell out as fast as they did. ” Other students were relieved StuCo had said something, Scranton pointed out, “It was a good thing that they notified people that they were gonna sell out quick and it made me aware of how important it was to get a ticket immediately.” Same goes for an Eagle’s Eye staff writer who added “I got on the website before they went on sale because of [what they said].” Rheinhardt said, “It didn’t come off to me like they were going to sell out in minutes… but as soon as I saw that 200 tickets were going to be available per grade, I knew these tickets were exclusive. I understand it was because of COVID restrictions [but] I’m honestly shocked that Student Council was able to pull off Charity Ball this year!”

Seniors were hit the hardest with the sell out, their tickets wiped out within minutes. Many believe that seniors should have gotten priority: “In my experience as an underclassman, you probably won’t enjoy Charity Ball as much because you’re still getting adjusted to high school and forming friendships… The majority of people that have attended Charity Ball in the past have been upperclassmen, so it doesn’t make sense why upperclassmen wouldn’t be allotted more tickets,” said a senior. “Setting explicit ticket limits increased demand, and tickets probably wouldn’t have sold out as quickly if seniors had gotten priority.” Another said “The senior class has missed out on many crucial high school milestones because of COVID-19, and this is our last Charity Ball to attend. Given how quickly tickets sold out in comparison to the other classes, it’s obvious that many more seniors wanted to attend but won’t get the chance to. I felt it was a bit unfair to not prioritize seniors, given how the other classes have at least another year to attend (and in the next few years, COVID-19 precautions may decrease and capacity will increase).” But others think somewhat differently, a sophomore said, “I don’t think it’s as big of a deal because it’s Charity Ball- it’s not a big deal compared to Prom. […] but I do think that there should have been more senior tickets and less for underclassmen.” One senior said, “I think that seniors having priority on the waitlist is the right move, but a percentage of underclassmen tickets should have gone to seniors- or juniors even.”

After seeing and hearing stories about some of the ticket tragedies around campus, StuCo felt empathetic towards the losses students had gone through. Bella Agusta, ECB Vice President of Logistics stated: “We really wish that we could have every student at the dance. Because of the reduced capacity, we knew that some students were not going to get tickets, so we made sure to emphasize how fast they would sell out. It breaks my heart to hear the stories of people who didn’t get tickets, but I hope that students understand that a lot of what happened was not in our control. We are working with administration, Marbles, and Wake county to make this experience as inclusive and amazing as possible.“

In conclusion, the Charity Ball tickets have caused quite a stir around campus and opinions are divided, but if you got a ticket, are on the waiting list, or didn’t want a ticket, it’s not all about the talk. The money you’re spending on Charity Ball is going to a good cause, and please think to donate towards Haven House at https://nccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=18179 and visit https://www.enloecharityball.org/ for more information on Charity Ball.