Due to recent events inside the walls of Dominion, Homecoming and Prom have become controversial topics. On Tuesday, September 25, Dr. Brewer sent out an email to parents informing them that prom might not occur this year due to low attendance in the previous years. Homecoming attendance is also getting lower so Dr. Brewer warned that it might also be at risk in the near future. There will be a meeting about the future of Homecoming and Prom on Tuesday, October 2, that will be held in the media center. Despite this monumental change,the student body seems to have lost interest in the Homecoming dance. Every year, less and less people decide to attend the dance. I, myself, have not attended a homecoming dance since my freshman year of high school.

My first high school dance was the 2016 Homecoming dance. My friends and I decided to attend the dance, but we spent about 40 minutes in the gym at the actual dance. It was about 10:20 PM when we all got tired and decided that we all wanted to head home. As we walked out of the gym, we saw a big group of students standing around and complaining about having to stay at the dance. Soon, we found out that the administration was not letting students go home until they had a parent come in and sign them out. This lasted for another hour before some kids started sneaking out the side doors, begging the admin to leave.

Some students were even highly considering pulling the fire alarms to get out. Everyone was getting really tired and no one’s parents were coming to pick them up. The students that were sneaking out the side doors were later brought in and placed into Dr. Brewer’s office. Still,some kids successfully got out and made it home. The frustration with the administration was getting worse by the minute. The fact that parents had to come into the building and sign students out was very impractical as, in my case, mother was working the night shift and could not sign me out.

My friend and I did not really know how we were going to go home since both of our parents weren’t able come get us. So she and I decided to quickly run out the door while Dr.Brewer was in his office. When we got outside, we didn’t have a ride so we sat outside trying to call everyone we knew who could have possibly picked us up but we had no luck. We saw one of our friends walking out with her dad and we quickly ran up to them asking for a ride. Shortly after we both got home.

After this very negative experience, I lost the desire to attend school dances and have not been to one since. I believe that changes should be made to get the attendance of the dance back up. I feel that the students should be free to leave the dance at whatever time they please and arrive when they choose, rather than having the very ridged process for students to arrive and leave the dance. If the process is more relaxed and positive, the students will feel more comfortable and will encourage other to attend and most importantly enjoy the dance themselves.