by Gabe Mielke ’16
It’s that time of year again Saint Ignatius High School, time for the Homecoming dance. It’s a time for frantically searching for a date, for shelling out forty hard earned dollars, for standing in line for forty-five minutes to enter the gym, and most importantly, for dancing like a madman and happily making a fool of yourself for three hours.
All of these things are traditional for an Ignatius homecoming, as traditional as the blue blazer is. However, is Homecoming going to be just as traditional this year as it has been in years past? Student Senate President Mitchell Pallaki is the man with the plan in this department.
“Since the beginning Homecoming has been going in a slightly different direction this year than in previous years. First, we asked the students to vote on the theme, with the most popular theme being the Hawaiian/Tropical theme. Then, we decided to bring back the appearance of Mitchell’s Ice Cream and had the student body vote on what ice cream flavors should be served. We have really tried to let the students decide the direction of Homecoming so we just have to work out the details.”
Some of those details involve the always controversial topic of decorations. Sullivan Gym (for the upperclassmen) usually ends up with higher quality and more numerous decorations than Murphy Gym (for the freshmen and sophomores). The coverage of the decorations is also a common complaint from students after attending the dance. The decorations rarely make you feel like you’re not in Sullivan or Murphy. Again, we go to Mitch to find out how he and the Senate plans on addressing this issue.
“We understand that in the past some of the decorations may have been considered lackluster. However, we really pulled out all of the stops this year. I don’t want to give too much away or get too numeric, but we have nearly a half a mile of floral garland with which to decorate the gyms.”
When asked about the possibility of a sand covered gym floor Mitch responded with: “We have been getting a lot of requests for that, looked into it, and decided that the logistics of such an operation would be outlandish. Sorry.”
On a positive note, Mitch pointed out that the Senate has met with unprecedented success in terms of selling bids. “Usually most guys buy their bids the week of Homecoming, but we have already sold almost 400. That’s nearly half of the number of couples we are expecting overall!” This could only mean that the student body has serious confidence in an entertaining Homecoming and that a lot of students are planning on attending.
To this theory, Pallaki answered, “It could also be the introduction of carnival games and the mechanical surfboard this year. They will be out on Wasmer during the dance. To play the games and acquire some popcorn to snack on, in between songs students will have to buy a wristband. They cost five dollars in advance and ten dollars at the door and count for both the Ignatius student and his date. We will be selling them in advance starting this week.”
Right now it’s obvious that Mitch and the Student Senate have worked some interesting new ideas into the traditional Ignatius Homecoming experience this year. To find out everything they have planned, you’ll just have to attend Homecoming yourself. Mitch said that bids will be on sale this week, so don’t hesitate to get one! Then tell the Eye your post-Homecoming plans.
