Homecoming. It’s more than just those amazingly heartbreaking videos where soldiers return home from war and surprise their kids and their spouses and I cry really really really hard. It’s our school’s pride and joy, and it’s back and better than ever! Thursday, October 29th, is the big day of the dance, so spread the word and join the fun. If you are not in attendance, four things will be sure to happen:

1. You will not get into any of the colleges that you are applying too.
2. It’s the unfortunate equivalent of breaking a mirror, so you’ll have seven years bad luck. Yikes!
3. YOUR BOTC TEAM WILL LOSE! THE GRADE WITH THE MOST KIDS IN ATTENDANCE WILL RECEIVE THE MOST AMOUNT OF BOTC POINTS. SUPPORT YOUR BOTC TEAM, SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, SUPPORT SUPPORTING SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AND COME TO THE DANCE!
4. You’ll miss out on the high school experience of a lifetime.

The dance is on like Donkey Kong from 6:30-9:30! Five dollar tickets are being sold before the dance around the lunchroom by student government officers. Get them early because they are $8 at the door the night of! Convince your friends to check it out, it’ll be lit.

I interviewed the ever-talkative Cross-fitting Peer Leadership leading SGA advisor himself, Mr. Leahy, who gave us the deets on the HOCO dance. And yes, calling it a HOCO dance is totally acceptable.

What made the homecoming dance come back?

We’ve been trying to do a dance for a number of years for the freshmen and sophomores, but we thought it would be good to bring back at dance that at one time was popular. But as you know, in the last five years it hasn’t been very popular. Our idea was to connect it to Battle Of The Classes and to award points to the class that brings the most students.

Why did the homecoming dance go away?

The homecoming dance went away because the last time we did it we only had an attendance of about 75 students, and about 25 of those students were student government officers who were required to be there. It just seemed that student interest in going to a dance was nonexistent. We hope this year to be different and better, because after five long years of waiting we finally have our dance back!

What kind of fun can kids expect to experience at the dance?

We have a lot of things planned. We have a professional DJ coming in, so the music will be good. A masquerade theme this year is being put into place to coincide with Halloween, to make the dance more fun. It is semi-formal still, but people should wear masks, get dressed up nice, and just go with it. We have a photo booth company coming in with props, which is a fun thing kids can do with their friends. It’s going to be the typical set up for what you would expect at prom, just A LOT less expensive and at the school.

The photo booth sounds sweet! Can you tell us more about it?

Photo booth company did senior prom last year; it’s a huge photo booth that can probably fit 10-20 people in one picture. It’s all free, they’ll print them for you on the spot. They are also including a social media display so you can upload the pictures from their iPads right onto your twitter, instagram, phone, and anything else you guys use.

Can you get into more specifics about the attire for the dance? What should kids be wearing?

Semi formal. So for guys, khakis, dress pants, a button down shirt. Ties are optional if you really want to class it up, and bring any kind of appropriate mask. Any halloween store, including Party Fair has masks ranging from two to six dollars, so it’s not a ton of money. For girls I would assume some sort of dress, it doesn’t have to be as fancy as a prom dress, and stick with generic nice colors like black or red, that kind of things.

How can kids get involved in helping set up for the dance?

Students who are student government senators can contact Mr. Leahy or their class advisors (Freshmen-Ms. Arnold) (Sophomores-Ms. Keegan) (Juniors- Ms. English and Ms. Rattien) (Seniors-Ms. kuban and Ms. LaPlaga) for more information about how they can help in setting up. In addition, any National Honor Society members can talk to Ms. Mahon or Ms. Foerg about staying after school the day of the dance to help set up for volunteer hours. You do not have to be in NHS if you would like to come before the dance and help set up.

Some key things you should note before purchasing a ticket:

• A sweet DJ is gonna drop drop some stellar beats, bro. A free photo booth will also be set up for our enjoyment, bruh.
• Date optional. If you don’t have a guy or girl to go with, don’t sweat it. Honestly, people are just going for fun, not for romance.
• You gotta buy your own masks before the dance. They’re super cheap and mysterious… totally High School Musical-esque which is awesome!
• Semi-formal Masquerade theme, kids! Here’s what to wear:
  • Guys: Khakis, a nice button down shirt (preferably long sleeves for your own reputation), and ties are optional.
  • Ladies: Appropriately cut dresses. This ain’t some weird New York City night club with a weird name like “Dash” or “ / ” (an actual dash) so dress nicely. You don’t have to wear a prom dress, it’s not that formal.
• DON’T FORGET YOUR MASKS
• There will be breathalyzer tests for randomly selected students upon entering the dance. I don’t know why you would ever show up intoxicated to a school dance, but if you do you’re getting kicked to the curb. You’ll be super embarrassed and your parents will be called and it’ll be the end of your social life so don’t even think about it.
• Underclassmen HOCO Princes and Princesses will be announced the night of the dance. But while the upperclassmen HOCO Kings and Queens will be announced at the game the next night, the members of the junior and senior courts (5 girls and 5 guys) will be announced at the dance! SO EVERYONE NOMINATED SHOULD ATTEND!
• Students from other schools, or who have already graduated from FTHS, will NOT be permitted into the dance.

I know some of you might think the dance is lame and all that waz (like what they used to say in the best show ever Victorious), but in reality you should be thanking Mr. Leahy and our school administrators for giving us back something that we deserve! HOCO is a big deal to a lot of people, it’s something our parents experienced that served as an integral part of their high school experiences. A bunch of FRHSD schools are super into HOCO dances, I know that Freehold Boro always has high attendance for their dance. Does that mean they’re better than us? If you think they aren’t, then buy your ticket for OUR dance. So stop being a sour baby and come dance it up, at FTHS’ Homecoming Dance on Thursday, October 29th, from 6:30 to 9:30! See ya there!