Homecoming is a very popular event for high school students across the country, often times it’s something that students look forward to. Yet, it may not be as popular with sophomores here in our high school as people may think.  

This year’s homecoming dance was held in the Sonderling senior cafeteria with a ticket fee of $5. Even though our school has well over 5,000 students attending, and with a limited number of tickets, it’s not a dance that a majority of students will or can attend.  

The max number of tickets overall is 500, around only 10% of the school. However, not all tickets were sold this year and interest in going to dances like homecoming is dwindling. This is true especially with sophomores, less are going overall, but why?

The Pow Wow created a google form to ask a variety of 10th graders about their interest in the homecoming dance and the reasons why they did or didn’t go. We received 32 responses. The results are as follows: 

Question 1: School spirit?

More than 80% of the students who responded to the survey do like participating in school spirit events or activities. It means that students like to positively influence their school environment.

Question 2: Interested in homecoming? 

The poll seems pretty split between the three options (yes, no, maybe), and it truly reflects the indecisiveness of 10th graders wanting to experience homecoming. Around 44% of students were never interested in going to homecoming. However, most people did show interest in going initially, with 31% saying they were interested and another 25% considering it.  

Question 3: Sophomore year experience  

Many students want to look back at the school year and remember the good moments so going to dances is an easy way to accomplish this; yet not many people follow through with these plans. Around 59% of students saw homecoming as an opportunity to make memories with their friends and to look back to their sophomore year in a positive light.  

 Question 4: Did you go to homecoming? 

The Pow Wow also requested written responses from people to evaluate their reasoning for going or not going to homecoming. Twenty five of the 32 people did not go to homecoming, accounting for around 78%. It may have only been the fact that it was a small pool of sophomores that were interviewed, and this may not represent the grade as a whole.  

However, at the student council meeting in November, members addressed the fact that this year’s homecoming tickets sales were the lowest they had ever been in recent years. They were encouraging the underclassmen to attempt to sell more tickets, telling them that the dance usually sold out the day before it takes place. It may lead us to think that underclassmen aren’t going to these dances as much.  

Here were some reasons people who were initially interested simply didn’t go: 

• “I didn’t go because of the lack of publicity for the tickets.” 

• “None of my friends went to homecoming so I didn’t see a reason to.” 

• “There wasn’t enough sophomores going.” 

• “It was in the cafeteria and that’s not fun…” 

• “I had plans that night.” 

The majority of these responses fell within three categories: students had no one to go with, ticket publicity was lacking with minimal information about the event, or people were busy with other events or activities.  

Based on the survey results, there should have been a wider effort in promoting ticket sales, especially since the profits go to senior scholarships, yet there wasn’t that much buzz going around other than word of mouth. Persuasion is the key when selling tickets

Here were some responses for the students who did attend:  

• “I was helping, and I like school dances.” 

• ” Yes, for sophomore class.” 

• “I wanted to make memories to look back on high school.” 

• “I was marching with ROTC” 

• “Well, first because of ROTC, then I stayed after.”  

By contrast, students who did attend the dance seemed to attend because they were either helping out or were a part of an extracurricular activity. It appears that clubs promoted homecoming far more than individual teachers or students. More club involvement and a greater pool of volunteers for the dance could have improved attendance. If it’s predicted by students that it will be a small insignificant event, then it will be just that. 

Question 5: Homecoming theme opinions 

Not many people were on board for the college theme that the school selected. It seemed hard to decorate for, and especially hard to dress up for. It was called “boring” multiple times or a reminder of the constant stress and pressure of school.  

Here were some student responses:

• “No, it’s not really a fun theme for homecoming.” 

• “I feel like them theme was very basic, so I didn’t like it.” 

• “I didn’t find any interest in the college theme. I feel it was too serious of a theme.” 

• “It was fun. I liked seeing all the different colleges everyone chose even though I’ve already been seeing college everywhere and it stresses me out.” 

Even though it’s important to promote college and the importance of higher education, homecoming may not be the best place to do that. Students want to focus on the present and spending time with friends. It may have been better to stick to more creative and entertaining themes.  

After going through the various forms, the most popular responses were Disney–themed, “candy land,” a masquerade, and “under the sea.”  All of these are broad enough to find decorations for, yet creative enough to dress well for. The themes people are aiming for aren’t that complicated, but simple and effective. Honorable mentions included “enchanted garden” and “under the stars.”  

Question 6: How about next year?

People are open to the idea of going to homecoming next year. So why were there barely any sophomores at this year’s homecoming? Maybe it was because most people as a collective were indecisive. Maybe it was the theme that drove people away. Maybe it was the failure to properly promote the event.  

With a reflection of this year’s homecoming, hopefully more people will attend the dance next year.