On October 4th, Braintree High held its annual dance. Homecoming is an American tradition, welcoming back alumni of the school to exemplify school spirit. After the homecoming football game, there was a homecoming dance for the current high school students where the homecoming King and Queen were crowned. The Wamps won the homecoming game, and the dance was the next day. The doors opened at 6pm, and students were first permitted to leave at 8pm. 

The dance is supposed to exemplify school spirit, an area that the Wamps seem to struggle with. The turnout was underwhelming; to say at 8pm it was like a floodgate opened is an understatement. 

As you can see from Mr. Keuther’s Instagram account, the gym was pretty full, but compared to years prior, this was nothing.

“Homecoming was definitely a big deal for us then. I’d say there were anywhere from 850–1000 people there, about 200ish per grade,” said one BHS alumni that graduated in 2015. 

As you can see from the second photo, the gym is absolutely packed. That is an aerial shot of the homecoming dance from “Dance satisfies despite technical difficulties in voting for Homecoming

King and Queen”, a WampTV News Story from 9 years ago. If you watch the video, you see people dancing, talking and moving around. If there was footage from this year’s homecoming, you would only see people taking photos. 

The question lies, Why? Why are only 800-850 people going to homecoming? I have a few theories of why this is.

First: cost. The homecoming tradition itself is expensive! You have to dress up in a theme for the football game, then, for a girl, you have to buy a dress that ranges from $50–200 dollars. You have to get shoes, make-up, and hair. Also, the surrounding planning is so difficult, especially for the modern age where you have to get the perfect photo for your Instagram post. 

Planning also makes the night difficult. You have to pick whose house you are going to take photos at. You have to find who has the best camera. For some people, they have to plan a whole homecoming proposal with a sign and all.  Why would you do all that just to go sit in the gym? I know, fun! Everybody is concerned about people judging you. The only people I am judging at homecoming are the people who look miserable when the athletic department puts in so much effort to make the dance possible.

So instead of stressing over perfection, and likes, just enjoy the night for what it is! It’s an opportunity to make memories with your friends. And one day, you won’t remember how expensive your dress was or how your hair looked or how many likes your post got. But what you will remember is the people you were with, and the fun you had! So try to have that fun, even if you posted at the same time as 20 other kids in your grade and your senior homecoming photos don’t have 100+ likes!