For years, Fairview has hosted homecoming in the student center, complete with a DJ under the senior lounge, decorations on the lockers, and colorful lights bouncing from all corners. However, this year, homecoming will be held in the main gym. Not quite the atmosphere students were expecting since the gym is correlated with sweaty sports games and packed assemblies. So why did it change?
“Students have been complaining about crowdedness, and extreme heat, no airflow, and the fact that there isn’t anything else fun to do but dance […] So last year, STUCO officers and admin discussed solutions that would benefit students and solve these issues brought to our attention,” said assistant principal Ross Sutter.
Moving homecoming to the gym was brought on by many concerns, mainly safety. One such factor that is considered is that the student center doesn’t allow for easy emergency access should a student need immediate help. This, along with the growing attendance rate leading to hot and crowded students, required a solution.
“It was a collective decision between Dr. Chopin and Mr. Sutter, and all of the other administration and assistant principals,” said Mason Israel (12), Fairview’s student body secretary.
“I know it’s different from what we usually do, and at first, I was kind of hesitant about it, but I think it’s fun, because we’ll have the small gym also for it,” said Sydney Booth (10).
The number of students attending homecoming has risen over the past few years, which has made school security more difficult to manage. Ensuring that students don’t access lockers or re-enter the dance is a full time job, carried out by staff volunteers.
“[Last year we didn’t] have enough teachers. We don’t have enough chaperones to manage such a large area and it can kind of get out of control,” said Israel.
Locker access is always one of the largest problems that comes with homecoming. The difficulty being that students could bring prohibited items (such as alcohol) to school Friday, hide it in their lockers, and then retrieve it again Saturday night at the dance.
“I think it’s safer and having access to the lockers was just a lot last year and [admin] just don’t want as much [of] going down to the lockers and then people getting into things, so they just think it’s safer to be in the gym,” said Molly Dunderdale (10).
An upside to having homecoming in the gym is it allows for there to be additional entertainment and games in the small gym. The opportunity to move between gyms that have their own unique atmosphere allows for a fuller night to be had.
“There will be six fun surprises in the small gym and one “never seen before” surprise that I think will be super exciting for all students attending,” said Sutter.
It will no doubt be interesting to see how homecoming improves whilst in the gym. After all, there’s more room to dance, higher ceilings for light shows, and additional entertainment. This Knight on a Red Carpet is sure to bring lots of fun.
