On Saturday, September 13, the long-awaited event of the 2025 to 2026 school year will have finally arrived: the Homecoming Dance. This year, Homecoming’s theme will be “Beauty and the Beast.” Homecoming is one of the very few events that only happen once every school year, with many festivities set up and events to encourage attendance from students and faculty. Although a supposed fun experience for students, some of them question the true value of attending.
“Homecoming [is] not the best kind of school activity, but not the worst,” said Johnathan Huang (12).
There are a range of reasons and tangents on why Homecoming may be worth it or not. A big eye-catcher for people looking forward to attending Homecoming is the price of the tickets.
A general admissions ticket for the event is priced at $75, while a United Student Body (USB) card admissions ticket is priced at $65. The overall price to attend Homecoming has been deemed expensive according to some students, but others have been arguing the opposite.
“I’d say it’s pretty fair,” said Giovanni Tazza (12). “It really depends on how bad you want to go, because if you’re willing to spend the money to go somewhere mediocre, so be it. If you don’t, that’s your choice.”
With that price, it would lead to some assumptions of the event itself being big. As students gather around for the celebration, it should be expected to have lavish things that would make the experience unique, especially since there are a lot of first-time goers. The demand for good food was one of the more expected things to have, as well as fun activities.
“I expect there to be some proper good food [and] good activities too, something that keeps me occupied and not get bored,” said Tazza.
Starting off with the food, students who have attended Homecoming before were really eager to have the options of food switched up. Seeing that most of the food given out were either snacks or small drinks, some students wanted a more formal meal for a serious event like Homecoming.
“Set up like a food area, so it’s not just selling a simple snack and a simple drink,” said Huang. “A lot of stuff they’re selling is just appetizers, you want a main meal.”
Aside from the food, activities for the crowd’s entertainment were also a big part of the experience. Even though not many students are in charge of setting up the Homecoming event, many had suggestions for what could keep the attendees busy.
“A chocolate fountain? A disco ball, karaoke machine? [I’d like to see] a bunch of cool stuff, maybe an arcade game,” Rumari Zalez (11) said. “A lot of amenities that will make the experience entertaining,”
With all factors combined, students could clearly see some flaws here and there with Homecoming, but don’t fully see it as worthless. Being that it is a dance (and also football game), it can be both worth it or not, depending on how you view it.
“If you like to dance and like to have fun, then you should maybe consider going to a Homecoming,” said Huang. “But if you don’t like those connectivity, then probably the activity not suited for you,”
Whether you’re going there with a romantic partner, or to hang out with friends, or for the fun of it, there are many students who are excited and looking forward to Homecoming.
