This year marked Miramonte’s 70th anniversary since the school’s conception all the way back in 1955. In order to celebrate, Miramonte’s administration and leadership program went all out on making Homecoming truly special. With approval to use an increased budget, they made significant changes to make Homecoming feel bigger and better than ever. However, such a plan does not come without a cost. Compared to last year, ticket prices for students saw a substantial increase, totaling out to nearly $70. Although this years homecoming was enjoyable, it was not worth such an increase in their price, and the price should be lowered for next year’s dance.
Due to the budget increases, leadership had greater freedom when planning out both the dance and spirit week. With it being Miramonte’s 70th anniversary, the leadership team and staff wanted to make this year’s Homecoming a memorable occasion. To begin the week, they decorated four hallways, each correlating to one grade’s Homecoming theme. For example, the seniors’ theme this year was Star Wars, and an entire hallway was decorated on theme with decorations including a large homemade tie-fighter and decor hanging from the ceiling, as well as colored walls and doors. In the other hallways throughout the 100’s, leadership made similar decorations for each of the different themes. While having decorations across the hallways is a fun way to stimulate school spirit, but leaderships priority should be the dance. If using money for decorations raises the price of the dance so much, it ultimately hurt students’ enjoyment.
The Homecoming dance itself also saw numerous changes. Leadership travelled to all of the schools across the district and took inspiration from all of them to try and make Miramonte’s Homecoming the best it’s ever been. To start, rather than remaining in the large gym like in previous years, they decided to move towards an outdoor setting. In order to accomplish this, leadership also acquired a large rig for lights to hang from and a DJ booth to act as the new dance floor in front of the pool and 400 hall. Over the past few years, Homecoming dances have barely differed from one another. All of them were in the gym, where it’d often get overcrowded and uncomfortably hot. This has made some Homecomings feel almost copy-and-pasted, with less charm and originality. In addition to the outdoor venue, leadership was also able to hire an amazing event planner and DJ, both of whom aimed to make this year’s Homecoming feel both fresh and enjoyable.
This year also saw an expansion to the entertainment at Homecoming. Since the venue was moved to the pool lot, there was a lot more room to have different forms of entertainment for students. This included a gaming truck, a blackjack table, a number of different arcade machines, and, notably, food trucks. However, only so many people can use these games and machines at a time. Because of this, not all students can get their moneys worth and enjoy the entertainment available for that long. While entertainment options at Homecoming provide a fun experience for students, it isn’t truly worth it, especially considering how much the price rises as a result.
Although food has been present at previous homecomings, the selection was not only limited, but somewhat expensive. This year, students could get one meal from the food trucks for free, as it was included in the $70 price tag for a ticket. This is one of the few improvements which genuinely justified the price increase. It fixed a major issue which has been present over the last few years, and students are happy.
Overall, Homecoming was a major success this year, with the administration actually turning up a profit from it. However, controversy remains around the ticket price. With the price jumping up so high in comparison to last years in order to fund these improvements, some students are unhappy and do not believe the price was worth it.
“I personally had to pay for a guest ticket that was $85, which was insane, considering we call ourselves an inclusive school,” junior McKenzie Hampton said. Not only this, but the benefits which come along with the tickets fail to justify such a drastic increase in price. As an example, students were allowed to have one free meal from the various food trucks. While students were able to receive an ample amount of food from this, it simply isn’t worth $70. A large number of students would have just preferred to pay a smaller price for the tickets just to have access to Homecoming without the free food. ”It just felt a little underwhelming for the price” junior Nolan Shindle said.
Another point of controversy is how long Homecoming went on for. This year, Homecoming saw a one hour extension from the previous years, running from 7 to 10 P.M. This is a wonderful improvement, since it allows students to spend more time with their friends, and enjoy Homecoming for a larger amount of time. However, there is one issue with this. Students were prevented from leaving Homecoming prior to 9:30 P.M. While this may not seem like a big deal, this can be a great annoyance for some students. “I think we should have been able to leave earlier” junior Jack White said. “It got pretty boring after the food trucks closed.” Students are forced to pay nearly $70 for Homecoming, and as a result, they cannot even leave the school ground on their own terms. If students are unable to leave at the time they want to, then they should not be charged $70 for a ticket in the first place.
To sum it up, Homecoming was by no means unenjoyable this year. In fact, many students said they enjoyed it more than previous years. “Homecoming was significantly better this year,” Hampton said. The addition in entertainment, more food trucks, and the outdoor venue were all wonderful improvements. Yet it is crucial that changes are made next year to lower the price of tickets for students. How that is done can be decided by both the administration and leadership, but students should not be subjected to pay such a grand price.
