![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
![All smiles. The group poses for a photo with last year’s book, “This is Our House,” along with their award for third Best in Show. Meikle, who was an Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook last year as well, holds both and stands at the center of the group. “That was an amazing feeling, going and grabbing the third place award,” Meikle said. “All of it paid off. I cried so much over that book, being able to receive [the award] was one of the highlights of my high school career, it was like the coolest thing ever.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/8bookpose_philly-1200x800.jpg)
Each year, the school hosts a dance to wrap up Homecoming week. Normally the dance is right after a football game, however this year it was on the Saturday following the Thursday night game. The dance serves as an end to the week’s previous festivities.
The dance commenced at 8 p.m. and went until 11 p.m. on Oct. 7. It took place on the baseball field while last year’s dance was in the gymnasium, and the dance two years ago was on the tennis courts. The move to the baseball field was to give students more room to move around. One student who attended the dance was Ella Kerner, junior.
“This year was a lot better in terms of size, the tennis court was small and the gym felt tiny,” Kerner said. “It was just a lot more fun. It felt a lot more like a dance and less like a rave, because last year it devolved into a rave.”
Another student who attended the dance was Mashayla Scott, junior. She has attended the dance each year since her freshman year.
“Thinking back to it, [the Homecoming dance two years ago] was really fun,” Scott said. “It was really crowded because it was on the tennis court, but the cold air kept it not too bad. [The dance a year ago] was a little less fun, but I went with more friends and they played good music. But it was really hot and humid.”
The weather was about 65 degrees Fahrenheit on the night of the most recent dance, allowing students to be outside without getting too hot, too cold, or wet. Students had the ability to walk around, talk to peers, or dance.
“The music was really bad,” Scott said. “I don’t know how they can mess up entertaining high schoolers, but they did.”
The DJ had a fenced off booth in the back of the baseball field, and had lights set up behind the station that displayed shapes onto the trees. They played some popular songs, but remixed some of them as well.
“They knew how to DJ, they just had really bad song choices,” Kerner said. “The winter formal last year had a good DJ but this year it was not very good.”
Associated Student Body (ASB) also set up a refreshment station, a place to take photos, and glowsticks for students to hold. Some students ended up collecting glow sticks and throwing them in the air over the crowd.
“I saw people who were taking glowsticks and throwing them into the air, and lots of people threw their cups and trash on the ground,” Scott said.
Because of the size of the baseball field, the set up lights did not illuminate the whole field. The glowsticks were given to students as an extra source of light, but some still found it hard to get around.
“There was a lot of running and roughhousing, probably because it was so dark out,” Kerner said.
The location and design of next year’s dance is currently unknown, but with student feedback, ASB can continue to improve the quality of the dance and other Homecoming week events.
