Written by: Katherine Rogers

After a thrilling and eventful homecoming week full of  events, Field Day victories and a time of unity throughout the school, the week is concluded by the Homecoming Dance. 

Unlike previous years, the homecoming dance was held right here in the Grizzly Den instead of an alternative venue. This surprised many students considering the last two homecoming dances were held at rather unconventional places like Bowlero and the Colorado Aviation Museum. Some students suspect that the Student Government’s  reasoning for holding the dance at the school has to do with budgeting. “I hope that by having homecoming at the school this year, they save money to give the seniors a super cool prom venue in the spring.” Tessa Todd (12)  Universally, school dances are held in the school gym. Given the amount of funding Highlands Ranch schools have, it is common to rent out alternative venues for homecoming dances and proms.  History teacher, David Carroll says that “having a school dance in the gym is a ‘right of passage’ for highschoolers.” 

Many students ended up enjoying the school dance venue, “It was accessible and welcoming for students.” says Olive Owens (12). Since the dance was held in the gym, students were not allowed to wear high heels to preserve the gym floor. Some students enjoyed this rule in order to be more casual but others would have preferred to wear their shoes of choice. 

The dance provided the attendees with free Boba drinks as well as a few arcade games. Prior to the dance a survey was sent out to students asking them to provide song requests, many of which were upbeat Pitbull songs as well as some slow dance songs such as “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron.  Overall students had a positive experience at this year’s homecoming dance and are excited for future homecomings and proms.

Following Homecoming Week a vast majority of students became sick, some of which tested positive for Covid-19. Student Madison Craffey (12) described the homecoming dance as a “super-spreader event.” Administrators sent out an email to parents advising to keep any sick students at home. 

The Homecoming Dance is always an anticipated and enjoyed event during Homecoming Week and this year was no exception.