Ever since the end of COVID-19, public schools all over the world have slowly been easing back to their “normal” ways. Some schools, like Neshaminy High School, have been feeding students with old rules and regulations while also implementing new ones, but what about the students themselves?
The past three years have been a struggle to convince NHS staff to allow the comeback of the homecoming dance. With a lot of discussion, Neshaminy High School principal, Stephen Garstka, has allowed the dance to return.
Only allowing 700 tickets to be sold, the seniors were allowed to purchase first on Sept. 13 after school. The rest of Neshaminy High School students were anxious and anticipating whether or not they would secure tickets.
The next day, Sept. 14, NHS’s two entry ways were crowded by 6:30 a.m., even though the doors didn’t open until 6:40 a.m. With at least 30 students waiting outside of each door, the flock to the Hub was overwhelming.
Everyone that wanted to buy a ticket secured one, despite the hype that seemingly surrounded the dance. The following week, tickets were still being sold to people who either changed their mind or weren’t able to purchase one on the first few selling days.
Saturday, Sept. 30 quickly approached. The students started flooding into the main entrance doors as their bags were checked. The dance began at 6:00, and by that time, the line for ticket checking was down the Main Street hall. With a wait time of about 15 to 20 minutes, students began to file into the gymnasium.
Some attendees of the dance weren’t too happy about the rules. While heels weren’t allowed to be worn on the dance floor for the girls, guys were permitted to wear their dress shoes.
After the typical slow start to the dance, the excitement began, but with the lack of air conditioning in Gym 3, the heat quickly took over and sweaty students crowded into groups that some compared to “mosh pits”, where feet were stepped on and students got pushed around.
As the dancing location became overpopulated, the cafeteria that was open for food and drinks started to fill as well. The line to get food was out past the cafe doors and the line to get water was even longer.
Students were permitted to leave the dance at 8:15 p.m., and they didn’t take that for granted. Many students were seen leaving between the times of 8:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.
After the dance, students were questioning the quality of the highly anticipated Homecoming dance. Was it worth the struggle of convincing of administrators? Or was the opinion of the dance different depending on who you asked?
The real question, though, is will the dance make a second-year comeback for the 2024-25 school year?
