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Seniors Bailey Quinn, Monte Faris, Kinlee Greisen, and Chance Vertin have been to more than a few homecomings throughout their time in high school, including their senior Homecoming which took place at the high school’s South Gym on August 31st. Hastings High School’s Student Council hosts homecoming every year, and 457 students purchased tickets. Both decorations and the DJ cost $400.
Greisen’s favorite part of Homecoming this year was seeing how all the students were able to dance and enjoy themselves without caring what anyone else thought.
“(In previous homecomings) a lot of the seniors just want to go watch crowning and leave, but I think this year people stayed and danced,” Greisen said.
After the crowning, the DJ took requests from students who enjoyed “party songs” over slow dancing.
“The music was pretty good this year. There weren’t many slow songs, but there were a lot of songs that got people up and jumping,” Greisen said.Â
Hastings High has seen a downward trend in homecoming attendance in recent years.
“I think people don’t put as much effort and aren’t as excited about homecoming. I think people don’t like to care as much because I think in the past, it’s been not as fun, but I think when you get there, it’s definitely better,” Quinn said. “I think people just need to go and experience it because it really is fun.”
A common opinion among students is that changing the decorations would improve Homecoming.
“They’ve used the same decorations, at least for my four years in high school, so maybe get different decorations. I think (having the dance in) the gym is good because there’s always a lot of students,” Vertin said.
Faris thinks that making decorations interactive would improve them.
“I think a big part of it is getting things that can involve the crowd. It’s like the balloons, even though people are going to pop them, they’re fun for a bit. People can punch them around. I think, like, some beach balls would be fun or something, just so it’s not the same regular old dance,” Faris said. “I don’t know that way you can at least, like, do something. I don’t know about games necessarily, but just things that you can interact with.
As the student council president, Faris took a part in planning homecoming. After reflecting on the dance, he thinks that bigger may have been better.
“I think I’m really setting up a good playlist. I think the music determines it. Lights are a big thing, so if we could invest in some more expensive light show type things and fog machines,” Faris said. “I think fog machines are really cool if we could figure out how they won’t set off fire alarms. I think lights and music are the biggest parts of Homecoming, the rest people don’t even look at.”
Another idea to increase excitement for Homecoming starts with improving Spirit Week.
“I think there should be, not necessarily harder themes, but a little bit more out of the box instead of doing the same ones,” Quinn said.
Quinn enjoyed the dance themes throughout high school and thought they enhanced the decorations.
“I definitely like the fact that we do themes because it makes the room look really cool,” Quinn said.
Monte Faris was named the 2024 Hastings High School Homecoming King.
“Getting crowned was a little awkward, you know, as one can imagine. Walking up there, everyone’s looking at you, it’s a little nerve-wracking,” Faris. “So I don’t know if I’d say that’s my favorite part but it definitely made me happy.”
The second crown was given to Homecoming Queen Bailey Quinn.
“I think (being crowned) was really cool because a lot of people don’t expect somebody who is a choir kid to win. I think that the crowning and stuff was done really well. Being queen was kind of like a surreal type of feeling. It felt fake,” said Quin. “She put the crown on my head, and I was like, ‘check the polls.’ I definitely think that would be the highlight of the last couple of years so far.”
