WOODBURY — An essential rite of passage for most high school kids is attending school dances like homecoming, especially for girls. It is an exciting and thrilling time in a girl’s life, but with excitement also comes the anxieties that eventually reveal themselves.
“The process for getting ready as a girl can be so stressful with all the different steps, but I think it’s one of the best parts,” senior Mae Addeo said. “Getting ready for [homecoming] is such a fun experience, especially when you do it with a group of friends. It’s such a good bonding thing getting all dressed up with the girls, helping each other with hair and makeup, and of course taking pics afterwards.”
One of the first thoughts that pops into a girl’s head about homecoming is perhaps the most significant: finding a date. Having a date for a girl is something really special especially if the proposal is cute.
“I personally think homecoming proposals are really cute, especially if they match the girl. If a guy puts in the effort to know what the girl likes and he takes the time and effort to get to know her, and he does something according to her personality and it’s well planned, then it’s worth it,” sophomore Indigo Kimball says. “I think if a guy just does something he saw on the internet and it doesn’t have any significance to the girl then it doesn’t matter but if it’s planned right and done to the girl with things she likes then it is the cutest thing ever.”
For some NHS students the proposal is one of the most memorable parts of homecoming. Senior Eva Ripperger has a different view on homecoming proposals that is a valuable perspective that most girls forget.
“Homecoming proposals are so cute, but I think that they set unrealistic expectations,” Rippeger said. “A lot of girls think they need to experience a proposal in order to have a full homecoming experience; however, I think whether you have a date or not, it’s still fun to go.”
Another stressful part is finding the perfect homecoming dress that a girl won’t regret for years to come.
“I haven’t gotten a dress this year, but I am planning on borrowing one,” Ripperger says. “Dresses are expensive and oftentimes cheaply made and so for homecoming,, it doesn’t feel worth it to me to spend a lot of money for one night.”
Not only have girls felt this stress about homecoming, but they also felt this way when our teachers were students.
“You had to have a date to any formal dance, and it put a lot of pressure on girls and boys, and I love that nowadays you guys don’t need a date or don’t want one and you just go to hang out with your friends,” English instructor Rebecca Gambardella says. “I think it was always [the most nerve racking] to find a date cause I think it puts so much pressure on people if you’re scared someone is gonna say no or you’re gonna be rejected and that’s really sad. It shouldn’t be like that. Also back in my day, we would get dress coded even at homecoming and we weren’t allowed to wear certain things, which was true of girls and not boys, but girls would always get dress coded.”
Although homecoming can be stressful we should also remember that it should be a very enjoyable time.
“I think that it’s probably one of the best times of your lives and you only get to do it once a year, and sometimes for some people since sometimes homecoming can be a little expensive,” sophomore Isabella Zakrzewski says. “It can be a one-time thing for people and that they should really experience that one-time thing or multiple-time thing.”
