Homecoming is a staple of the high school experience and can be found throughout high schools all around the United States. Recently, within the halls of Dominion, the idea of Homecoming has been losing popularity. Many students don’t plan on attending, choosing to make other plans rather than go to the dance. So why aren’t students coming to the dance?

The Homecoming dance at Dominion has been highly regulated by administration, with very strict rules being enforced during the dance. One of the most controversial and strictly enforced rules is that students are not allowed to leave early without parent permission. This rule has caused both a lack of interest in the dance and a lot of turmoil for the 2016 Homecoming Dance (Why I Don’t Want to Attend the Homecoming Dance). Many students were left with the conclusion that they didn’t want to return to another Homecoming dance and would rather be in an environment that gave them the ability to come and leave as they chose.

And while keeping students at the dance was for the student’s safety, a dance is supposed to be a fun experience where you are supposed to have fun, and not have to worry about being trapped inside of your school.

At the same time Homecoming is so much more than a dance, it’s the entire week leading up to the dance. It’s one of the most fun weeks of the school year, there are spirit days every day, the classes all come together and compete to see who can decorate the best hallway based on a theme, and don’t forget about the Homecoming football game which is always a lot of fun.

This year it might not be that way, this year there has been a great loss in school spirit at Dominion, the attendance for football games is declining (The Disgrace that is D-Block), many students don’t plan on attending dance, and students just don’t seem to be as interested in attending school events.

Administration has been frustrating students by threatening to remove Dominion traditions, including Homecoming ones such as toga day and scooter Friday for seniors (Major Changes to Homecoming this Year: Message from SCA). And while ultimately it was decided that these traditions would remain, the idea that harmless Dominion traditions was almost taken away lowered morale for students and increased tensions between the student body and the administration.

Administration also made several changes in previous years. Last year, they eliminated the Homecoming King and Queen and instead had one winner who supported a cause which they campaigned for. While in theory, this could have been a great idea, only two people campaigned and not much was heard about the causes for the rest of the year. Administration is now backpedaling on many of the changes they tried to implement last year, as this year a person will not run with a cause, they will just enter into the Homecoming competition, and students can vote for those who entered.

This decision to revert back to a system based largely on popularity exemplifies that administration recognized that their attempt to change the system of Homecoming, ultimately failed and is not contributing to an event, which is currently dying.

Now, the administration and SCA seem to be working together and listening to the suggestions of students and parents to make changes to improve the students Homecoming experience. However, it is unlikely that attendance will drastically increase just by adding snacks, games, and other small changes. In the end, that can’t undo the damage that has already been done to the validity of the Homecoming dance.

Despite the efforts of SCA and the administration, unfortunately for Dominion students, it is likely that Homecoming is still struggling to meet high attendance rates, and possibly within a couple of years, the whole dance itself could meet its maker.

Unfortunately for Dominion students, Homecoming’s problems are too deeply entrenched to be solved by either SCA or the Administration and could eventually lead to its ultimate disappearance from the Dominion calendar.