By Sarah Brunskill
School dances can be some of the most memorable times of our high school careers. While we missed out on many activities last year, we kicked off this school year with a high-spirited homecoming week leading up to our homecoming dance. The sophomores and freshmen at East have never experienced our homecoming, let alone our homecoming dance, so I sent a survey to determine what they thought about it.
Since it was their first dance I asked, Did you enjoy the dance this year? I received a unanimous response of yes.
I asked the freshmen and sophomores, Going into this, what did you expect?
Many expected the dance to be awkward and they thought it would have been weird to actually dance. Ella Wisniewski said, “I didn’t expect it to be much fun, but it definitely was!” Phoebe O’Connell said she knew “It was gonna be fun.” The school dances are there to allow students to hang out with each other and have fun. Many of our freshmen and sophomores enjoyed the dance.
Lakshanya Kakku said, “My favorite part was when everyone was dancing.” Many of the responses I received were around the lines of music selection and dancing. Others enjoyed the fact that everyone was together. After a long year of isolation, being brought together under the lights made it a night to remember.
Lila Yonaty said, “All classes were talking to each other and a lot of people were dancing! Also, people got really into the pep rally and EVERYONE does spirit!!” It’s the simple things during the dances and during the week that made homecoming experiences so important. One student added that they noticed the hard work that went into making the dance happen and setting it up. Zayden Bolyn thought that what really made the dance stand out was the number of people that actually went and participated. Though the dance was definitely one to remember, some didn’t enjoy every aspect of the dance.
Many felt that the space should be a little bit smaller. If the area where the dance took place was smaller, the space wouldn’t look as big and it would bring everyone together more. A sophomore who would prefer to remain anonymous mentioned how she “… didn’t like how early in the day it was and how short the dance was.” She wanted the night to last longer and to spend more time at the dance with friends. This shows how much some of the students enjoyed the dance. Nikita Suharu concluded that the dance could have been better since “There were no photo booths or backdrops to take pictures in front of.” The only thing students could take a photo of at the dance was on the turf where sports are played.
Overall, everyone that filled out my survey agreed that the dance was a fun experience and that they are glad it happened this year. There were mixed responses among the sophomores when I asked, As a sophomore do you feel like you missed out on previous dances? When I asked, As a freshman, was this what you expected as a dance for your first year of high school? Some replied with yes and others responded with no, but all of them agreed that they enjoyed the experience regardless of what they expected.
This funky outdoor homecoming dance isn’t what all of our freshmen and sophomores expected, but it left them excited for the next two to three years of their high school experience.
