On the night of Oct. 17, bright neon lights flickered across the quad as music pulsed, mixing savory scents flowing from food trucks and passionate singing from over 420 students at this year’s Homecoming dance.
This year’s dance marked the first time the school experimented with a formal Homecoming dress code, bringing a more elegant vibe to the previously laid-back event. The changes were brought into place by both leadership advisor Mark Higashioka and the dance commission — which consists of senior Diya Ravi, juniors Lauren Nguyen, Ian Hu and Athena Zhang and sophomore Avi Chauhan.
“We plan everything together — from the DJ, games, decorations and food trucks to everything in between,” Higashioka said. “We bounce ideas off each other to see what would add value to the dance and what’s feasible within our budget.”
Similar food stations from previous years still remained, offering treats ranging from donuts to cookies and ice cream. Due to high demand, desserts like ice cream and cookies ran out before the end of the dance, but students this year could purchase more snacks from two food trucks lined up in the quad.
The two food trucks, Thai Thai and La Burrita, offered free and paid options for dance-goers; one offered Mexican cuisine with free chicken or vegetarian tofu tacos, and another specializing in Thai cuisine handed out free chicken garlic noodles. On the other hand, options like quesadillas, basil chicken and Thai tea were available for purchase.
Besides the desserts supplied, pizza was still an option — albeit less popular. Since there wasn’t a need to check tickets for each slice of pizza handed out, leadership students worked the cotton candy machine located next to the dessert bar.
With free food subsidized and a variety of paid options available, there was a greater variety and flexibility for food at the event.
Inside the small gym, a row of carnival-style games and tables with cards kept the energy high for those who looked to take a break from dancing.
Similar to last year’s dance, a live DJ played music from the top of the quad steps, playing popular nostalgic songs like “Baby” by Justin Bieber and “Timber” by Pitbull and Ke$ha. However, parts of his DJing were not received well; many students described issues throughout the night, from songs being switched just as people started getting into the groove, as well as random audio cuts.
Despite some challenges, Ravi believes that the event ran successfully overall. Compared to previous years, Ravi notes there were around 50 more tickets sold this year.
“I think that from last year to this year, we have had a huge improvement in both the decorations and the number of people who ended up coming to the dance,” Ravi said. “For it being my last year, I genuinely think this was our best homecoming yet, especially with the decorations and games, and I am super proud of how it turned out!”
