Once the lights turned off, the strobe lights turned on, and music started playing, students gathered around the DJ booth and began dancing. With every beat, students jumped up and down, fist pumped, and danced with their friends the whole night.
Freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors wore dresses, khakis, button ups, and ties of all different colors and patterns and met in the gymnasium at Scituate High School for the homecoming dance. At 7 p.m. Nov. 16th students arrived at the event and danced the night away until 10 p.m. For $10, students could dance to senior Noma Okundaye’s mix including “23” by Mike WiLL Made It, and “Party In The U.S.A” by Miley Cyrus.
For the first half-hour students stood with their friends chatting about what their expectations for the night were. After darkness finally engulfed the gymnasium, students warmed up to the idea of dancing with one another and didn’t stop until the end of the night.
For years now students have demanded a homecoming that people actually show up to. By making this year’s Homecoming formal, student council hoped to drive students to attend. Senior Victoria Johnson said, “It’s such a tradition to have Homecoming, every school has one. I wanted more seniors to go, but I understand why they didn’t go because they have better things to do. Plus, we’re used to not having school dances. I think people will go more now because everyone likes dressing up, you know?”
Other schools take Homecoming very seriously- they bring dates and plan their attire weeks in advance. They crown Homecoming king and queen at the event and a lot of thought and effort goes into planning this extravagant night.
SHS students enjoyed the night spent dancing with their friends, but had hoped more people would show up. Senior Brooke Bartoloni said, “It was okay, I think if it was more hyped up and more people were there it would have been more fun.”
It was a night to remember in the SHS gymnasium, and next year student council expects the turnout to be much larger. Since more people went this year, it sets a precedent for students to convince their friends to go with them next year. If this cycle continues, homecoming could become as serious as those of other schools.