Photos by Lian Wang and Aila Liu 
On Oct. 28, Aragon hosted its annual Homecoming at Pinstripes in Hillsdale Mall, with the theme of “Dons at the Disco.”
“We talked about decades, but we weren’t really sure [if] the venue would fit that theme or how the decorations would look,” said Dance Commission head and junior Ria Vij. “Everyone [liked the premise of] decades, so then we got to disco.”
Freshman Mia Guerrero shares her thoughts on this year’s theme.
“It’s a little basic, because I feel like that’s something that a lot of schools would do,” Guerrero said. “But it’s cool because people [can] wear so many different things.”
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, homecoming dances have been held at Aragon, making this the first year to have an alternate venue. In the past, many students disliked that the dance was at school, which prompted the move.
“Although it was fun, I didn’t enjoy it probably to the extent we could’ve,” said sophomore Evan Westheimer in regard to past dances. “It kind of felt more like I was still at school. The atmosphere didn’t feel like a party, it didn’t have that same energy.”
Pinstripes was chosen as a venue as it offered activities beyond dancing, such as bowling and bocce ball. However, moving to a new venue caused concern about raised ticket prices.
“We realized that it was a lot more expensive than last year, but we’re offering a lot more [too], ” Vij said. “We’re offering a different venue. We’re renting out the entire space, inside and outside combined. There’s unlimited soda and food as well.”
At the same time, Leadership had to consider affordability.
“We want to make the tickets affordable for everybody,” said Leadership adviser Heather Stretch. “I didn’t know if it was going to be price prohibitive, and turn people away. I also didn’t know if we were going to get enough people to buy tickets, and [then] we might lose money.”
“Since I’m a freshman, I want to experience a lot of high school experiences.”
However, tickets sold out within eight days. This year, the dance commission made purchasing tickets more accessible, by including credit card and apple pay as a form of payment.
“We’re definitely trying to make it more accessible,” Vij said.
Homecoming can be a classic high school experience for many.
“Since I’m a freshman, I want to experience a lot of high school experiences,” Guerrero said. “I [had] never been to a dance, [so] I want to see what it’s like.”
Senior Kenneth Eng shared his thoughts on his last year of Homecoming.
“It was pretty fun,” said Eng. “There were definitely issues with the long wait time for bowling. But it was very fun to watch my friends fail and get a strike.”
The next school dance will be Winter Formal, which is currently set to be held on Feb. 10.
