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Administration attempts to appease both parents and students as a lack of participation kills homecoming spirit
Every year, the school is a venue for students to celebrate the end of their homecoming weekend. The original idea for the dance was to host a formal for all students ranging from freshmen to seniors. In the beginning, it seemed to fulfill attendees expectations: low lighting, music up, and minimal staff interaction. In the past few years, for some, time moves slowly at the dance, and for others it’s not worth a mere ten dollar ticket (despite the fact that most kids could get their parents to pay for their ticket).
These changes have led to a combination of constant supervision from high school staff, who lurk along the catwalk, with the lights remaining illuminated. Now, Dexter students perceive the environment of the dance more as a prison courtyard and less as a dance. However, high school isn’t the first place students experience a school hosted dance. At Mill Creek Middle School, dances are treated differently. While lights are kept on at a high school dance, they are turned off at the middle school’s complement. In addition, the middle school hosts an array of dances each school year, with the lights off, and the high school only hosts one, with the lights on.
High schools in proximity to Dexter and their staffs, take an approach similar to the one the middle school takes, and sometimes a step further: lights off, hands off. The Pioneer Homecoming dance, for example, hosts a Homecoming dance with little staff to student interaction and with the lights dimmed.
To suggest that there should be no staff at the dances is outrageous. What students want is there to be a change in the environment during Homecoming so they might actually want to stay more than 30 minutes. If students continue the trend of leaving once the clock strikes 9, or not even going at all, Homecoming could have a similar fate to its winter counterpart.
Three years ago, homecoming held a much different form. Students stayed through a majority of the dance, lights were dimmed, and the music received less censorship than present day. Most seniors would agree that their freshman dance in 2013 was superior to the rest. Most of the parents and faculty that attended that year would highly disagree. Following the 2013 homecoming dance there was an outrage amongst parents who were appalled by the amount of explicit activity present at the dance.
The week after, due to inappropriate actions by both parent chaperones and students, was full of reform as teachers worked to create a dance experience that pleased both parties. The result was what we see today. Clearly the parents were favored during the decision making. Nowadays the lights are up and there is a small catalog of available music, mostly radio hits from 2006. Over the years we have seen a decline in the number of students staying longer than an hour, and popularity among upperclassmen is also going down. Students are starting to see homecoming as a one and done event.
In order to revive the homecoming experience, students need to actively participate in the festivities and accept that these changes are here to stay. Nothing is more boring than standing on the wall watching other people have a good time. Homecoming should feel like an opportunity, not an obligation.
Homecoming has managed to outlive its counterpart in the winter: Coming Home. The Coming Home dance is at the end of the spirit week we have in the winter. In the past it has been a dance the friday night right after the basketball game. Being when it is, right after the game, it’s a lot more casual, and people don’t usually dress up. Sadly, the Coming Home dance was discontinued due to lack of participation. Which raises the question about Homecoming. The “better” way for the dance according to the parents, has had an impact and potential to kill the participation and attendance at Homecoming. It is an important part of the year because it solidifies freshmen into the high school. It gives underclassmen a taste of what prom is going to be like. Homecoming is important, and deserves to be saved.
