Cleveland hosted its annual homecoming dance on Oct. 17, and the theme this year was Night On The Bayou. While some students found it entertaining, others thought the night could have been better. 

One of the most controversial topics of this year’s dance was the music choice. Most students who attended shared that they thought the music this year was not as good as last year. 

“It still felt like it was Kidz Bop in a sort of way. Because obviously it wasn’t Kidz Bop, but the music they were playing, I was like, ‘we’re high schoolers now. We can not listen to Katy Perry all the time,” said Cade Dumas, a junior.

 “Homecoming was great, but they didn’t play good songs until the last 40 minutes,” said Rob Lowe, a senior.

This may have been due to students’ inability to suggest songs. In past years, there had been a form for students to request songs to be played at the dance.

“It wasn’t what I would pick, but it was good,” said Kayala Dove, junior. 

The student participation this year was high, and most attendees felt like the turnout was successful. While attendance from the freshman and sophomore classes was high, there were far fewer juniors and seniors who attended. 

“It was fun, I really liked the dancing, and I felt like there were a lot more people in my grade than I expected,” said sophomore Simone Centerwall.

Even though attendance across grades wasn’t necessarily equal, there were still many students who came to the dance – 663 tickets were sold in all.

“I thought it was a really fun time! I thought it was kinda weird there was no food, but I thought it was a really good time energy-wise. It felt like everyone was having fun pretty much,” said freshman Lona Violet Wright.

Although most students were participating, the dance doesn’t have the same atmosphere if some students are sitting on the bleachers, looking at their phones. 

Sophomore Walter Raspone pointed to this issue, and said, “I think it would be better to not have the bleachers down, so everybody had to get up and dance.”

Teacher Jessica Sawyer, who guarded the door throughout the night, had her own opinions on the event.

“There weren’t a lot of teachers there – like general education teachers – and I always think that that’s kind of sad because it’s really nice to see the celebratory nature of you guys outside of class, doing something fun that has nothing to do with school,” said Sawyer.

Sawyer also suggested that next year,  the communication could be done more effectively. She dealt with many students who had forgotten IDs or tickets, and hoped to not face this issue at future dances. 

In hopes of improving next year’s homecoming, many students commented that the gym could have been decorated much better, and that the decorations were incredibly similar to last year’s. 

“If they’re gonna do a cool theme, make it different, you know? Not just like vines,” said Raspone. 

Others disagreed, and many of those who attended appreciated the attention to detail from leadership.

“I definitely thought the decorations were pretty fun, leadership did a good job with that. I thought the system was really good with bagging because I could just put stuff downstairs and not have to worry about it,” said Claire Lavenue, junior.

Cade Dumas mentioned that many of the decorations were ruined by students. “The lanterns were everywhere,” Dumas said. “Do not tear decorations down – that made it kind of tacky looking.” 

While there were a couple aspects of homecoming students suggested could be improved, overall those who attended really enjoyed the dance. School events such as homecoming are a perfect way to bring students together and celebrate Cleveland, further strengthening the student community.