By: Chelsie Yokum

Second semester has arrived, and along with it excitement about Courtwarming and Sadie Hawkins.

Sadie Hawkins was a character from the Li’l Abner comic strip created by Al Capp in 1934. Sadie was “the homeliest gal in the hills,” and her father created “Sadie Hawkins Day,” a day where unmarried women found their husband through a foot race. Thus began Sadie Hawkins dances—girls ask boys.

Sadie is an event that many girls look forward to.

“I’m going to ask [junior] Cam [John] Helmuth to Sadie through a sandwich. I’ll put it on top of a plate that says, ‘Now that I’m the perfect woman, will you go to Sadie with me?’ Maybe I’ll even wear an apron when I give it to him,” said senior Melanie Holmgren. “We joke a lot about gender roles, so I thought it’d be fun to use that to ask him.”

Some girls put a lot of effort into their invites.

“I’m going to get this plain white T-shirt and permanent marker,” said freshman Sierra Drowns. “I’m going to write, ‘Will you go to Sadie with me, [junior] Chris[topher Carter]?’ And after the question mark I’m going to write ‘yes or no,’ so later in the day when I come up to him wearing the shirt, hopefully he’ll circle one of them with the marker.”

Being a freshman, this experience is completely new to students like Drowns.

“I’m very excited about asking Chris because I have never gotten to ask a guy before,” Drowns said. “I have nothing to be nervous about. I think it’s going to go quite splendid. I’m going with my boyfriend.”

Some girls were a bit more spontaneous with their invites.

“I wanted it to be cute but simple, and I didn’t have that much time to get it together since I thought of it two days before I wanted it to happen. But I nailed it. I put some balloons on my wall in a pattern,” said sophomore Courtney Wiggins. “The inside balloon said ‘Sadie?’ and there was an outer balloon circle with smileys. One of the balloons had a note inside that said, ‘I pay you just to look nice, show up and have fun. So say yes!’ And I also asked on our seventh month anniversary. He [’10 graduate Justin McAfee] was totally surprised and he really liked how I did it, and of course, he said yes.”

Freshman Jessica Rodulfo chose a similar tactic.

“I’m going to fill his [freshman Landon Thomas’] room with pink, red and white balloons, then make a huge sign that says, ‘Landon , Sadie?’” Rodulfo said.

While some girls choose to get creative and go all out with their invites, others, such as freshman Alexandra Mikic, take a more subtle approach.

“If I was going to ask a guy to Sadie I would just ask him, the old fashioned way. Straight to the point,” Mikic said. “’Out of the ordinary’ is ordinary now.”