For the first time, this year’s homecoming dance was split in two. The freshmen and sophomores attended between 6-8 p.m. The seniors and juniors were from 8:30-10:30 p.m. 

Just like the dance was divided, so were opinions on this year’s homecoming.

“Going in I thought it would be pretty lame, our class was stuck with the freshmen,” said sophomore Will Burningham. “It was all right, but I definitely wished it would have been combined.”

Homecoming was split this year due to safety concerns, according to student council sponsor Natalie Johnson. Typically 1,300 tickets are sold, but the cafeteria has a max capacity of 800. Johnson said local event spaces for a crowd of more than 1,000 would cost $60,000, which is not in the school’s budget. 

The tickets cost $30 for the two-hour dance and covered decorations and the DJ. The “Beyond the Blue” theme was carried out with underwater décor.

“The decorations were actually really nice, I liked the theme a lot more than last year,” junior Cecelia Sullivan said.

Students said they were disappointed that food was not served like it had been in the past. 

“No one bought their tickets until a week or two [before], so I couldn’t order food because I didn’t know how many people there would be,” Johnson said. 

For students wanting to attend the dance with a date in another grade, they had the option to choose which dance they would attend. They had to meet with administration and discuss it for prior approval. Ticket sales ended up remaining as high as they had been in the past when all of the grades attended the homecoming dance together.

Some of the issues that were mentioned by attendees were with the music selection and the inconvenience of the water station. Many said fewer attendees made the dance feel more awkward and less enjoyable.

”It was small,” senior Aidan Franks said. “It just felt less hype.”

Though the dance was less than ideal for some, students still made the best of the situation and had a good time dancing with their friends. 

“I liked the general experience of being able to hang out with my friends and having a night out,” Sullivan said.