School Dances Bring Pioneer's Community Closer Together
Both staff and students recognize the importance of school dances for the high school experience.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
Both staff and students recognize the importance of school dances for the high school experience.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
Loud music blaring, bright lights and fast paced dancing; high school dances are a staple and core experience for many students.
Many schools in California have two main dances: homecoming and prom. This year Pioneer has had a homecoming dance, a Battle of the Den Mixer with Leland High School and an upcoming prom.
To many students, such as Jenessa Engelhaupt, 12, dances are extremely important as they provide a chance to bond and unwind from school and other stress.
“It’s a fun experience to have with all of your friends, and it’s a good memory to have and keep,” said Engelhaupt.
Staff has also noticed the value dances bring to the high school experience, and find that dances are comparable in importance with many other core high school events.
“School dances build camaraderie and a team spirit. They give students a safe place to be, and plus they provide entertainment which is kind of fun,” said English teacher Michelle Bowman. “Dances are just as important as a football game, basketball game or cheer. They are a part of the natural high school environment. They give students a chance to mix with friends and other people while being safe at school and under supervision from chaperones.”
Other students see dances as a great way to meet new people from school and can help increase school spirit.
“School dances are a great way to hang out and meet new people,” said Anna Murphy, 10.
Students, such as Summer Ooka, 12, feel that more dances would be beneficial to their high school experience.
“I think we need more school dances because it will increase our social interaction with each other and will give us another space where we don’t have to focus on school,” said Ooka.
Other students however feel that more dances would actually take away from the experience.
“I think the number of dances is adequate because if they happen too often they would get stale,” said Owen Souza, 12.
Although more dances would provide students with more opportunities to socialize there are restrictions to planning more dances. One restriction is caused by a lack of funding.
“The money and budget are one of the biggest restrictions. We are not relying on investment if we want to plan more dances because that would be more money for investors to pay, and with no outside funding we would have to fully rely on ticket sales,” said ASB President Allison Grove, 12.
Another problem raised when trying to plan additional dances is ensuring that there is a high enough level of student involvement. ASB Activities director Maiya Aniff, 12, has been an integral part of planning all three dances this year and notices that confirming student involvement was often the hardest part but also the most crucial.
“If we plan a dance and end up spending more money than tickets that we sell, we will be losing money which is something we want to avoid. So it's kind of hard if not a lot of students want to go, making that one of the main restrictions,” said Aniff. “For events like rallies, it is really just games but for dances we have to figure out things like photo booths and trucks and things like that are kind of hard to book.”
Although there are still restrictions to planning dances, the additional restrictions that were put on events by the pandemic have mostly been lifted which has allowed for the additional mixer that was planned this year.
“I know last year we had a limit on how many people could attend dances but I know this year there is no limit, which made planning dances a lot easier as we didn’t have the concern of getting too many students,” said Aniff.
One solution to not having enough dances is that students, such as Nylah Lemus, 12, who enjoy attending dances can go to dances at other schools.
“I attended dances at Leland and it was fun. It’s not as good as going to a dance at Pioneer because when you are in a mosh together it’s like ‘oh, who are you?’ but then it's also good sometimes because then I don’t have to be embarrassed,” said Lemus.
Many schools in California have two main dances: homecoming and prom. This year Pioneer has had a homecoming dance, a Battle of the Den Mixer with Leland High School and an upcoming prom.
To many students, such as Jenessa Engelhaupt, 12, dances are extremely important as they provide a chance to bond and unwind from school and other stress.
“It’s a fun experience to have with all of your friends, and it’s a good memory to have and keep,” said Engelhaupt.
Staff has also noticed the value dances bring to the high school experience, and find that dances are comparable in importance with many other core high school events.
“School dances build camaraderie and a team spirit. They give students a safe place to be, and plus they provide entertainment which is kind of fun,” said English teacher Michelle Bowman. “Dances are just as important as a football game, basketball game or cheer. They are a part of the natural high school environment. They give students a chance to mix with friends and other people while being safe at school and under supervision from chaperones.”
Other students see dances as a great way to meet new people from school and can help increase school spirit.
“School dances are a great way to hang out and meet new people,” said Anna Murphy, 10.
Students, such as Summer Ooka, 12, feel that more dances would be beneficial to their high school experience.
“I think we need more school dances because it will increase our social interaction with each other and will give us another space where we don’t have to focus on school,” said Ooka.
Other students however feel that more dances would actually take away from the experience.
“I think the number of dances is adequate because if they happen too often they would get stale,” said Owen Souza, 12.
Although more dances would provide students with more opportunities to socialize there are restrictions to planning more dances. One restriction is caused by a lack of funding.
“The money and budget are one of the biggest restrictions. We are not relying on investment if we want to plan more dances because that would be more money for investors to pay, and with no outside funding we would have to fully rely on ticket sales,” said ASB President Allison Grove, 12.
Another problem raised when trying to plan additional dances is ensuring that there is a high enough level of student involvement. ASB Activities director Maiya Aniff, 12, has been an integral part of planning all three dances this year and notices that confirming student involvement was often the hardest part but also the most crucial.
“If we plan a dance and end up spending more money than tickets that we sell, we will be losing money which is something we want to avoid. So it's kind of hard if not a lot of students want to go, making that one of the main restrictions,” said Aniff. “For events like rallies, it is really just games but for dances we have to figure out things like photo booths and trucks and things like that are kind of hard to book.”
Although there are still restrictions to planning dances, the additional restrictions that were put on events by the pandemic have mostly been lifted which has allowed for the additional mixer that was planned this year.
“I know last year we had a limit on how many people could attend dances but I know this year there is no limit, which made planning dances a lot easier as we didn’t have the concern of getting too many students,” said Aniff.
One solution to not having enough dances is that students, such as Nylah Lemus, 12, who enjoy attending dances can go to dances at other schools.
“I attended dances at Leland and it was fun. It’s not as good as going to a dance at Pioneer because when you are in a mosh together it’s like ‘oh, who are you?’ but then it's also good sometimes because then I don’t have to be embarrassed,” said Lemus.