One thing helps ease the minds of students as they return to classes, the onslaught of tests and homework, and the end of sleeping until noon every day: the Back to School Mixer. 

Held on the first Friday of every school year and organized by StuCo, BTSM is the perfect opportunity for Jr. Bills to lose their stress in the mass of jumping, sweaty teenagers, strobe lights, and blaring music. The event was attended by the majority of St. Louis U. High’s student body plus around 1500 girls from Saint Louis area high schools, filling the Danis Field House.

“Nothing screams BTSM more than girls and sweat,” said sophomore Brewer Hamilton.

Though girls and sweat are some of the key elements of a successful Back to School Mixer, StuCo’s planning of the event ensured that every guest could have a great time. Last year, due to Covid, the mixer was held outside, but the event was allowed to return to the Field House this year.

“With being back in the gym, I feel like it was huge because it's just loud and sweaty and gross,” said Student Body President Patrick Mehan. “It was really cool to see people being so appreciative of the work that we did, and it made me enjoy the event even more in a way because we put in work to make it happen.”

After his election at the end of last school year, BTSM was the first large event planned by Mehan in his new role, alongside the other newly-elected and appointed StuCo members.

“It's really convenient that we all just get along so well,” said Mehan. “So when we're having fun with a video or whatever, we're just being more productive. And that's when we do our best work, I think, as a group.”

Stuco’s hard work of planning and promoting the event seemed to have paid off in the end. Their promotion video, posted on Instagram, gained over 9000 views and girls’ tickets soon became scarce.

“I think one of the craziest and most unexpected details was in terms of getting girls registered for the mixer,” explained StuCo co-moderator Stephen Deves. “We send out a form ahead of time that goes live, and then 1500 female slots were taken in less than 24 hours, which is crazy. And then for the remainder of the week, Mrs. Menne and I got constant emails of ‘oh, can I get into the mixer?’ and ‘is there is there any way I can get a ticket?’”

With over 2000 occupants packed into the Field House, the mixer inevitably became very hot and very sweaty.

“I've experienced many mixers both as a student and as a faculty member,” said Deves. “This was probably the most humid, sweatiest, and one of the grossest ones we've seen in a while.”

The stifling heat and overwhelming moisture did little to dampen the excitement of the mixer.

“I've gone to several mixers in the past, and this was easily the most energetic, invigorating mixer I've ever been to,” said Spirit Leader Tim Browdy. “I think when you get down in the crowd and in the mosh, there's nothing like feeling the sweat of another human running down your skin.”

By the end of the night, the humidity had condensed on the floor and walls, coating everything in a layer of water, adding another element of excitement to the mix: potentially slipping.

“Every inch of floor was like a Slip ‘n’ Slide,” said junior Teddy Janson.

In the week following the mixer, many SLUH students and teachers have begun to speculate that the event, in all of its sweaty glory, might also have helped to facilitate the spread of Covid-19 and other illnesses.

“Obviously, I did go to the BTSM on Friday, and then I think on Tuesday I started to feel kind of sick,” said senior Freddy Laux. “Then in the morning, I found out that a lot of people were testing positive.”

Because SLUH administration no longer tracks Covid numbers in the school population, there is little concrete evidence to prove with absolute certainty that the illness spreading through the school is Covid-19.

“I think after talking to people that tested positive, thinking about the time it took for our symptoms to start, and also testing positive, we all agree that it’s probably most likely right that we all got it from BTSM,” explained Laux. 

It is also important to note that the symptoms experienced by BTSM attendees and others may be the result of illnesses other than Covid, though still transmitted at the mixer.

“I showed up to school for a StuCo meeting, and I told them, ‘Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t feel great,’” said Mehan. “And then I started coughing a lot. And then Mrs. (Megan) Menne asked, ‘You wanna go home?’”

The complications of holding an indoor mixer of nearly 2000 guests may have been originally masked by the excitement of returning to normal, but this potential byproduct may come as a hard blow to students’ fun.

“I hadn’t thought too much about what if there’s a Covid spike, what if people get sick?” said Mehan. “So when it happened, when I started hearing reports, it was a big reminder that this is still a big problem in our world, like this isn’t going away. We still have to be mindful of that with future events and stuff like that.”

StuCo also had to deal with the immediate aftermath of the mixer: cleaning up after the crowd.

“We tried to mop it up, but it did not work,” lamented Student Body Vice President Chandler Flowers. “It was still there. Picking up clumps of hair off the ground, a lot of water bottles. It was disgusting.”

But in spite of some messes, what made BTSM so great? Perhaps it was the lost hair and water bottles, the sweat of unknown strangers coating their skin, or the large number of people sliding across the floor that made BTSM so great. Or maybe it was truly the aspect of camaraderie and brotherhood that unified hundreds of Jr. Bills in the thrill of the night. Whatever it was, it was great.

“I think my favorite part was honestly seeing such schoolwide camaraderie and excitement about an event,” said Deves. “It just felt really good for our school. I was working the boys check-in, and just to see the hundreds of boys coming up in excitement, and the goofiness, and the crazy outfits, but how everybody was so excited. It felt like a return to something that they've either longed for, or dreamed of, or are just heard about.”

“BTSM? More like BTS-Great!” summarized junior Nate Boyer.