The freshman class will conduct its freshman formal from 7-11 p.m. Friday at the Hunter Welcome Center. This year’s theme is a “Black Tie Affair,” and it’s free to all freshman.

This is a chance for freshmen to unwind and have some fun and meet new friends as the semester winds down before finals in May, said Shelby Barclay, a psychology major from Bridgeport.

“Freshman Formal is a party we decided to throw to kind of mix and mingle with people who don’t know each other,” Barclay said, “to create a bond with our group and try to be a close-knit group.”

Barclay the attire for men and women will be formal.

“The attire is black tie so men will be wearing suits preferably with jackets, and nice dress shoes,” Barclay said. “The girls will be wearing cocktail dresses or long gowns, anything comfortable that you can dance in.”

Oswaldo Garcia, youth and family ministry major from Dumas, said the planning committee wanted to go back to the roots of a formal.

“We were kind of discussing and reflecting on the past years,” Garcia said. “We were talking about their themes, and we said we kind of want this to be more of a just a formal. Just for guys to look nice and the girls to look beautiful in their sense, so we said let’s just keep it simple and go with black tie affair.”

Garcia also said they will have two photo booths set up at the dance for the freshman who want to take pictures.

“Yes, there are going to be two different photo booths for them,” Garcia said. “One of them is going to be within the dance hall, and the other is going to be in the foyer.”