The homecoming dance stands as a unique pride of the St. Paul Academy community. The ever-changing themes and the vibrantly-lit cafeteria are a certain draw for the event. The music jives upbeat and playful, and sure to get the students moving. The annual dance brings together the school in the cafeteria with a different theme each year. The school should focus on creating an upscale environment with semi-formal attire so that the students can have a classy dance to start off their year.

Discussion has thrived in the school community about whether the Students Activities Committee (SAC) should change homecoming into a semi-formal like all other schools do. When asked what was going to change this year for the homecoming dance, vice president of SAC, Pia Schultz said, “We’ve been hearing a lot from the students that they wanted homecoming to be semi-formal this year, but we took a vote and majority ruled for keeping it the same as in previous years.” Schultz went on to say that majority of the students on the SAC are seniors and since seniority rules, for the most part, they decided to keep homecoming casual. Often, the SPA community likes to incorporate change so the homecoming dance would be the perfect opportunity to mix it up a little.

According to student discussions, the homecoming dance is usually regarded as the least favorite dance. SPA is missing the mark on living up to their potential to create a classy and uniting environment by doing something new and exciting. There might be a quick fix for the student body to get what they wanted if SPA hosted an additional dance in the fall, a “Back to School Dance.” that was casual. Then the actual homecoming dance, like other schools (Minnehaha Academy, The Blake School, and Breck), could be used as a semi-formal dance with dresses and an upscaled venue such as decorating the gym with lights, cute decor, and potentially a photo booth.

Upgrading the venue for homecoming has been a possible idea for SAC, but they are unsure of where and how it could happen. When asked about hosting the dance in the gym, Schultz said, “The gym is our main goal, but we have a couple issues because maintenance just replaced the floor so they don’t want any high heels scuffing it or any food or drinks to spill.” By eliminating the issue of high heels, Schultz went on to say, “We were thinking about having a sock hop where no one would wear shoes which would really help girls so that they don’t get their feet stepped on.” If the dance became semi-formal, but everyone wore socks instead of dress shoes, SPA would keep their image of a unique and fun homecoming as well as changing to meet the community’s needs. The SPA community needs to start having a more widespread discussion about possible solutions for homecoming to become a semi-formal dance.