Love in the Dark

By Liliana Chai Feb 14, 2026

When lights dim, neon takes over. Glowsticks flicker across the room while music echoes through the cafeteria, weaving together crowds of students in bright fluorescent tops and jeans from Leland and Pioneer High School.

The Leland and Pioneer Mixer, a glow-in-the-dark themed dance bringing together students from both schools, will take place on Feb. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Leland’s campus. Similar to Homecoming, foo —including a boba and a taco truck—will be available for purchase at the event, along with a photo booth and special activities on the quad like a designated paint and giveaway station, where glow-in-the-dark body paint, free glowsticks and neon beads will be handed out to encourage students to show spirit in

an accessible way.

A flash sale took place on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6, where students could buy the tickets at their lowest price of $10 with a VIP card and $12 without. Just like a regular school event, students must sign a waiver and submit it to the bank before purchasing tickets. From Feb. 9 onward, prices rose to $13 for VIP and $15 without. Student IDs are the ticket to the dance, and tickets will be sold exclusively to students of Leland and Pioneer High School. ASB expects to sell out all 800 tickets evenly split between the two schools with 400 tickets allotted to each.

Three years ago, the school hosted a back-to-school tropical themed mixer with Pioneer High School in August 2022. To coordinate a similar event, revitalizing community connection between students of the two schools, ASB took the initiative to reach out to Pioneer in September 2025. Because the idea was brought up in close time proximity with Homecoming planning, the school worked with Pioneer’s ASB team to finalize the details of the dance the months following Homecoming.

Throughout the planning process, the school collaborated closely with Pioneer’s ASB team to arrange a seamless and inclusive event through constant communications through email and FaceTime meetings to exchange ideas. At the start of the second semester, ASB members from Leland and Pioneer met in-person to brainstorm mixer decorations and finalize details regarding the event’s budget. Conflicts in ideas that arose needed to be overcome collectively.

“We originally considered a Valentine’s Day theme for the mixer since the dance is close to the holiday. However, Pioneer’s ASB team pointed out that Valentine’s day is only one day, therefore by the end of the month, most students would likely not be in the Valentine spirit anymore. Mutually respecting each other’s perspectives and involvement in the planning process, we agreed upon the glow-in-the-dark theme,” Senior ASB member Myia Bhullar said.

Sophomore ASB member Maya Shahtout explained that Leland and Pioneer deliberately chose to promote casual attire for the dance instead of semi-formal or formal wear to offer students a unique experience.

“Since many people have sports and afterschool activities, hosting a semi-formal dance on a school evening would be inconvenient for students to manage. We agreed to keep the event low maintenance in hopes of attracting a larger audience so that students can feel comfortable preparing for the dance while still being able to enjoy hanging out with friends on a Friday night,” Shahtout said.

Though Pioneer High School may be considered the school’s friendly rival, many friendships have been

maintained despite the distance, and the mixer—the result of the two school’s collaboration—continues to strengthen and create these connections between the two communities while fostering school spirit.

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About the Contributors

Liliana Chai

Investigate Report & Science and Tech Editor

Liliana Chai is a junior at Leland High School and the page editor for Investigative Report and Science and Tech. This is her third year in journalism. She likes to listen to music, hang out with friends, sleep, and binge watch shows during her free time.