By Andrew Revord
Associate Editor-In-Chief
Before the school year started, prospect students had two brief chances to see each
other again.  One was during schedule pickup, the other was during the Back to School Bash, an event started last year held the day before school began.
For the second annual Bash his year, social sciences teacher Frank Mirandola, who supervises the Bash, decided to combine the two events, which were held August 9th.
According to Mirandola, roughly 1200 students come on the first day of schedule pickup, so he wanted to create a more relaxed, social “atmosphere”  by combining it with the Bash.
A group of students created the Bash last year after attending the J. Kyle Braid (JKB) leadership conference in May 2010, with the goal of bringing the Prospect community together before school started.
Like last year, this year’s Bash was run by JKB students and held at circle drive, featuring free hot dogs, music, activities, and the chance to buy Underground shirts.
However, the activities, which included a Euro bounce, giant hamster balls, and a slam dunk game, were different from the ones last year.
According to JKB student senior Maura Benson, who coordinated the Bash this year with Mirandola, there will be different activities every year from now on, which was one of the ideas she and the other JKB students discussed.
The JKB students began discussing the Bash near the end of last school year, but never made any official plans until Benson emailed Mirandola and mid July with her ideas.
“I went ahead and asked if we’re still doing it,” Benson said.  “He said, ‘yeah, if you want to.’”
After finalizing their plans, Benson got word out about the Bash through Facebook, while Mirandola sent out an email blast to parents of incoming freshmen.  
Although the Bash is open to all students, Benson said it is especially focused on giving underclassmen a chance to get comfortable at Prospect, share schedules and meet new people.
One such freshman, Theresa Conicki, met other freshmen who are going to be with her in soccer and volleyball.
Junior Christian Stanoulov came to the Bash with his sister, primarily with her in mind.
Though he did meet some people he knew, Stanoulov was expecting to see more students, and
thought the teachers and JKB students probably were too, because Mirandola  and the other teachers spent most of the time at the bash trying to attract visitors to the free food.
“They’re practically begging people to ask for hot dogs,” Stanoulov said.
Mirandola said the crowds would be more slow and steady this year because the Bash was being held alongside schedule pickup, so students would just drop in and out.
Benson also noticed the smaller crowds and thought it would be a good idea to advertise the Bash more during schedule pickup in the future.
“People sometimes didn’t realize it was here,” she said.
Still, Mirandola views the Bash as a great way turn schedule pickup into a more meaningful event.
“So many people come by here naturally, so it is one of those things we’re looking to create a whole evening from,” Mirandola said.