Behind-the-scenes of the HoCo dance

Like many students, I have often wondered what it takes to plan a major school event. Recently, our school had a homecoming dance and many things took place behind the scenes to make it the way it was. For people who don't know, the homecoming dance is a dance that is held at the end of Spirit Week to help raise money for our school and to celebrate the end of homecoming.

Earlier in the school year, many people were asking if there was going to be a homecoming dance along with the usual homecoming football game. There hadn't been a homecoming dance at the school for some time so the student council decided to plan one for this year. Liz S., a freshmen student council senate member, said, “There were a lot of requests from students to a have a homecoming dance this year since [our school] hasn't done them in years past.”

The student council made a homecoming committee within their club to plan the

whole dance. They came up with the theme of hot girl homecoming for this year’s dance.

All throughout Spirit Week, the student council had been decorating the school’s hallways for homecoming. Additionally, all of the student council met up at the school from 1pm - 3pm on October 5, the day of the dance, to focus on decorating for the actual dance. The council members got there early to decorate the cafeteria according to the theme. Some of the decorations that were used were decorations from past dances and events. Our school’s freshman Vice President, Gracyn W., said, “We set up for the dance by rearranging the tables and moving the ones we didn’t need from the cafeteria. We brought other tables in as our dj table and snack/drink tables. Most of our decorations were pink and gold with some silver. We covered the tables and wrapped tinsel around the ramp. We also blew up balloons and other inflatables, including beach balls.”

There were some struggles and funny moments while setting up for the dance. When asked about what the hardest part was, Liz said, “We used decorations we already had so whenever we found something we could work with, we had to make sure we had enough to spread it throughout the cafeteria.” Gracyn said one of the hardest parts was getting everyone done in time. Gracyn also said, “The funniest part was blowing up the inflatables because we were kind of struggling.”

As far as I know, there were not many conflicts going on during this whole process. Everyone was working together in harmony with little to no disagreeing on decisions. Gracyn said, “The only problem with setting up/planning was that the dance committee who sold tickets forgot to tell people they needed their IDs.”

Overall the dance was a success. Many people had a very enjoyable time dancing, taking photos and hanging out with their friends and classmates. Gracyn said, “I would say the dance was successful. It took a lot of planning and teamwork to have everything set up.”

When the dance ended, the student council stayed behind while everyone left to start the cleanup process. They put lunch tables back into their original positions, deflated the inflatable decor, put the decorations in storage, and picked up all of the trash. Liz also said, “We had a lot of help from students who stayed back and helped pick up trash and get things in order for school on Monday.”

When asked about what people don't know about putting a dance together, Gracyn said, “What people don't know about putting together a dance is how much time it takes to plan everything out and take into consideration the decorations, set up, food, music, etc. It is also very stressful to make sure everything will go according to plan.”

All in all, the dance was a successful school event. A lot of planning and time went in to put the whole thing together. The student council worked very hard so all of the students attending the homecoming dance could have an amazing time.