Photo courtesy of Neil Giesser
Sammy McClintock
Features Columnist
Every year, each grade at Newton South is supposed to have an event where students can come together to socialize, dance, and have a good time. For the Class of 2022, after missing their junior semi-formal due to COVID-19 concerns, class officers decided to plan the first-ever fall homecoming dance.
Iris Ham, a senior at South, enjoys attending school events and recognizes the fun experiences she had at them in the past. “I think it brings the class closer together because when you’re in the same room as everyone, you’re bound to meet new people or just have interactions that you wouldn’t normally have in a regular school setting,” she explained.
Especially with all the cancellations in the past year, it is great that there are more opportunities to come together as a class and see everyone without a mask on their face.
However, what was supposed to be a fun grade-wide gathering was originally met with a lot of complaints by the senior class. Some of these included the fact that it would take place outdoors, the short notice before the dance, and the $35 ticket price.
Aman Singh, a class officer who helped organize this event, said that “people went in with really low expectations, so all we could do was be better than that.”
Nico Hensch, a senior at South, agreed: “I think everyone was super skeptical about it when it first came out.”
Despite the original negative attitudes towards the senior homecoming dance, the class officers continued to put a lot of time and effort into organizing the dance, starting even before school began to get it approved.
Sydney Finkelstein, another class officer, described the steps it took to plan the event: “We got an outdoor space and got the date. We already had the tent, we had to buy lighting services, we had to get a dance floor, we had to get food, a DJ, and a police permit. There’s a lot of steps that go into it that you wouldn’t really think of.”
Eventually, the night of homecoming arrived, and it was clear that all that time and effort paid off. South seniors reported that they were happy with how the night went, and it exceeded some of their expectations. The class officers predicted a sale of around 160 tickets and ended up selling close to 300: more than half of the senior class.
“I’d say it was very electric, honestly. A lot of the boys were having a blast, we were just in huge mosh pits the entire time. It was a great experience because everyone was not seeing each other for the longest time and just being able to be in close contact, everyone was smiling and having fun. It really felt like the school was a huge community,” said Hensch.
After the disappointment of missing out on their junior semi-formal, senior homecoming turned out to be a fun and creative replacement. Although some negative attitudes possibly remained after the dance, many seniors left homecoming glad that they went, and thankful to their class officers for organizing such an amazing event.
