The Inter Class Council's (ICC) Class of 2013 drew re­cord attendance to its annual Junior Semi-Formal on Feb. 3 at the Marriot Hotel in Newport, R.I. ICC reported 408 guests this year, a sum that breaks its previous record of 325, set at last year's dance.

According to many students, the night was very enjoyable. Aside from some difficulties with transportation in the be­ginning and a few incidents involving alcohol, the event re­ceived much approval.

"It was a lot of fun, there were tons of people there, and the Marriot was beautiful," said Danielle Bailey, a junior. "Ev­eryone looked awesome and the food was delicious."

The driving force behind this successful night was the effort put in by Inter Class Council and the leaders of the junior class. The advertising and orga­nization put into the event was a large reason for the record at­tendance.

"We started planning this back in June," said Sean Thompson, Assistant Director of Student Programs and Leadership and ICC's advisor. Thompson at­tributed the event's sound orga­nization to the extensive plan­ning.

The effort put into advertising by the junior class members of ICC was another reason there was such an increase in students this year. The leaders of the ju­nior class attributed a lot of their success to the use of post-card reminders, online ticket sales, and the earlier date that the event took place.

The switch to online ticket purchasing contributed to the success. "We realized everyone pays with cards now," said Mi­chael Decoulos, Treasurer of the Class of 2013. "When we did ticket sales in person for two days, we only sold like five tick­ets."

"In terms of on campus ad­vertising, we didn't have to do that much," said Lauren Jost, President of the Class of 2013. "It sold out. People were buying their tickets pretty early."

Having the largest group ever attending the dance, ICC came prepared for any alcohol-related discord. "We had a full staff there, Student Programs and Leadership was there, we had hotel security, so everything was under control," Thompson said.

According to ICC, one ambu­lance transport was necessary during the course of the eve­ning.

Although the Junior Semi is usually held later in the spring, this year's event was held much earlier, due to practical space concerns. "Because we wanted to increase people so much, we had to go to larger venues, but we had to stay out of wedding season," Decoulos said.

Also, by having the event this early, Decoulous said that ICC was able to save a large amount of money.

Yet, due to the large number of guests, organizing an effi­cient way of getting the guests to Newport proved difficult. Although ICC enlisted the ser­vices of four school buses that shuttled students from campus to the event in two waves, some students were still left waiting on a ride for longer periods than they say they would have liked.

Attending students such as Bailey had a few complaints about this plan. "The first group worked pretty well, but I was on the second, and we had to wait like a good hour," she said.

According to Bailey, the sec­ond wave of buses did not arrive at their scheduled time, leaving nearly 200 well-dressed stu­dents waiting in the Rec. Cen­ter's atrium.

"It's like Russian Roulette with the buses," Thompson said. It is very difficult to find enough buses to transport all of the stu­dents safely, he said. Thompson explained that these difficul­ties come from finding cheap-enough buses, and the timing of the wave situation.

In the end, all of the students made it to the hotel, even with the difficulties in transporta­tion, and most students seemed to have a good time.

"It's nice to see your classmates there, and to see everyone have such a great time," Jost said. "I had a blast."