Marissa Williams

OTHS School Dance Canceled 

Depleting Spirit

Introduction

After five years, Ocean Township High School class officers and Student Council members decided to host a 9-12th grade dance. This dance could’ve been a great night for our students, but due to low ticket sales, it was canceled. This sparks the question: Why did nobody want to go? While here isn’t an exact answer, there are three potential reasons why the dance was canceled.

 Lack of Spirit

Throughout the past few years, there seems to have been an extreme decline in spirit at Ocean. If you were to look at 2012-2016 posts from certain Ocean Township High School social media accounts, you would notice how there was so much life and spirit in the halls of OTHS. From first-hand experience, I see daily how spirit is declining. Going to football, soccer, and basketball games feels like a  ghost town. 

Advertising Event
The second possibility noted by some students was the lack of multi-media advertising. The dance was advertised with some flyers posted around the school, but they didn’t offer a clear explanation or truly entice students to want to come to a Friday night dance. If it was advertised on social media more and talked up more in the weeks leading to the ticket sales perhaps, maybe it could’ve been more successful.

Theme/Dress Code

The last reason that students mentioned why there was a lack of interest in attending might have been the dress code (Dress to Impress).  A common opinion was that a dance should’ve been more formal or have a theme to it.  A big part of any dance is the outfits, people often look forward to showing off what they’re wearing.

Final Thoughts

I really hope this will be a learning experience for everyone.  By next year hopefully, we will be able to have a Homecoming Dance that WILL truly draw our student population to attend.