On Oct. 13, Aragon Leadership announced that homecoming will be held on Nov. 6 from 7 to 10 p.m. in Center Court. Due to the ongoing pandemic, Aragon Renaissance Leadership had to redesign the event’s organization as well as make notable changes to guidelines and location to ensure students’ safety.
Traditionally a two-part event, Homecoming consists of a spirited rally the day before the dance and a formal dance on the weekend. Associated Student Body president Benjamin Wen, an official spearheading the event, described how the rally has been held in previous years.
“[Normally], there are performances in the middle of the gym and all the students sit in the bleachers,” Wen said. “In the center, there’ll be sports teams, clubs, dance team, cheerleaders and a bunch of student groups performing. We always have a competition on which grade can cheer the loudest and which grade shows up in the most [of their class] color.”
Due to social distancing regulations, the rally is moving from the gym to Center Court and the entire structure has been transformed. Instead of one central event, it will be held in sections from Nov. 1 to Nov. 5 with different student groups performing each day.
“If we were going to throw a dance, it had to be done safely where there [was] no extra risk”
Expanding the rally schedule has a deeper reason in addition to reflecting the current safety protocols.
“Besides COVID-19, another reason [for changing the rally format] is [that] we want to feature all the groups around the
school that sometimes only get recognized at specific times; like the dance team, [which] only gets seen during football games,” Wen said. “They don’t get much recognition for their hard work. Same [goes for] sports teams and even clubs. In the past, we’ve had cultural clubs perform, like the La Raza Club, which celebrates people of Latin American and Hispanic descent.”
In addition to the rally, the homecoming dance is being reworked. While the dance has been held at the College of San Mateo in the past, this year it will be held in Center Court.
“If we were going to throw a dance, it had to be done safely where there [was] no extra risk than what you are already experiencing every day,” said Director of Student Activities and Leadership teacher Melissa Perino. “Our numbers for COVID-19 cases have been very low here at Aragon. As long as we can keep everyone as safe as we do at lunch, we are okay moving forward with the dance.”
However, there are still safety concerns as the world remains in a pandemic and nearly one in ten students at Aragon who are currently unvaccinated.
“I feel [that the event is] slightly risky, especially because the School Board has been constantly postponing a policy that would allow the school to require vaccine cards or a negative COVID-19 test to enter the event,” Wen said. “But if that gets passed soon enough and [the school] is allowed to mandate vaccine cards or negative COVID-19 tests, I feel like that would be even better.”
Opinions on the feasibility of the dance seem to be across the board, with some more cautious and some eager to get back into the swing of things.
“I think it’s safe to hold Homecoming this year because most students are vaccinated,” said freshman Charlie Birkelund. “There are a bunch of other events that happen like this at an even larger scale that seem to be fine [such as] sports stadiums and amusement parks [that] have opened up.”
More than 500 tickets for the dance were sold on the first day with many more to come. Tickets will be sold until Nov. 4, with the price increasing by five dollars each week, until it reaches $40.
