This year, the football schedule has caused homecoming to be later than usual. Students and staff have mixed opinions on the date.

Chris Torda, a student council adviser, is responsible for working alongside students to plan and decorate for homecoming. “The later date doesn’t really affect student council. No matter when the date is we still plan the theme, have an assembly, the dance,” he said.

Although the date may not affect the planning of the dance, it may affect some of the outdoor activities throughout the week. Torda said, “The only thing it may affect, if anything, is the parade and bonfire. The later you go, the more inclement weather you may get which can potentially cancel the parade and bonfire, but that’s really a game-time decision.”

Student council doesn’t know how the student body will respond to the change. Torda said, “In terms of the parade bonfire, some people might not show up because it’s colder so the community might not come out for something like that if the weather is cold.”

As for the dance, student council is anticipating higher numbers. Torda said, “In terms of all of the other events, including the dance itself, I think it might actually increase attendance because it’s late and we haven’t had any big events yet. The kids like to get together for the first big thing, to see friends and have fun. Last year homecoming was the fourth week of school and everything was already crazy with starting school so it might hopefully increase attendance but we will see!”

Junior Abby Coffin is especially worried about the weather conditions at this time of year. Coffin said, “A possible problem with the new date is the weather because a lot of times in October, it’s really cold and snowy around Halloween so the weather is definitely going to affect the experience. No one is going to want to take pictures before the dance outside in the snow.”

On the other hand, senior Maddie Sentle thinks the weather may be better than previous years. Sentle said, “I kind of like the idea of having it a little bit later because it’s colder and I’m a little bit of a hot box. Having it a little later will allow it to still be nice enough that the colors on the trees will be really pretty especially for pictures so I am excited about that.”

Along with homecoming, the end of the quarter and final sporting events take place in October this year. Coffin said, “I don’t like the later date because October is a busy month with sports as a lot of them are coming to an end it gets really crammed in.”

Coffin prefers the dance to be earlier in the school year, before students get deep into academic content. Coffin said, “I think the beginning of the school year is more fun for homecoming because everyone is new at school and it’s just a lot of hype coming off of summer whereas now everyone is stressed out with school and homecoming is not their priority.”

Senior Linus Dombrosky agrees that it makes more sense to have homecoming earlier in the school year. Dombrosky said, “I would rather have homecoming earlier in the season because it is a good bonding moment for students within the school to get to know each other better, compared to later on in the school year [when] people are starting to get into heavier homework [and] a dance becomes less appealing.”

Varsity runner Valerie Sague is concerned about the homecoming dance being the same day as the regional cross country meet. “It’s both a good thing and a bad thing because it makes everything thing a rush after the race in the afternoon. Also, if I qualify for the state meet, it will be a great way to celebrate but if I don’t, I won’t be in the mood to go to the dance.”

Torda likes the idea of having a later homecoming, but thinks this year is an extreme example. Torda said, “I like homecoming later but not this late; I mean this is really late! I think the perfect time for homecoming is either the last weekend of September or the first weekend of October. I think that’s a really good time to have it.”