On November 22, the JP Stevens Student Council organized a homecoming dance filled with music, dancing and photobooth activities. In the spirit of coming together, JP students got ready in alluring dresses and other formal attire to participate in an eventful night of enjoyment, taking a break from school stress to spend time with their friends.
In preparation for Homecoming Week, the Student Council organized a week of spirit days, including Veteran’s Day, Sweats Day, and Inside Out Day in which students dressed up according to the designated colors to participate to gain points for their class. The tickets were priced at $10 and could be purchased during lunch days prior to Homecoming, but were also available at the door, allowing all students to purchase them. Many students began crafting vibrant posters with handwritten, cheesy-but-cute lines to ask out their significant other or their friends to join them on this dance. The dance took place from 7 PM to 9 PM.
This year’s Homecoming Dance theme was the Enchanted Garden; the Student Council elaborately decorated the walls of the gym with light-purple streamers, streams of twinkle lights, and vines of fake flowers. They organized a small photo booth corner in which they provided various types of masks and signs for the students to take pictures with and create memories that would last a lifetime. Numerous students dressed in pastel colors and embroidered flowers waited in lines to take photos with their group of friends.
As the students entered the decorated gymnasium, they quickly dispersed to different areas such as the dance floor, snack room or the little photo booth corners by the walls. There was an assortment of snacks such as well known chips like Lays, Flaming Hot Cheetos, and Doritos as well as bottles of water. The exhausted students made their way from the lively dance floor to enjoy these tasty refreshments and engage in small-talk with the students around them. The DJ group, a couple of juniors and sophomores, played a mixed array of songs ranging from Enchanted by Taylor Swift to Bollywood pop Chammak Challo by Akon and Hamsika Iyer. Upon hearing their favorite songs, the thrilled students ran to the dance floor ready to bust out their iconic dance moves or just simply to jump up and down in excitement.
“As Student Council President, I’m incredibly proud of the effort our team put into transforming the gym into an enchanted garden for Homecoming. It took a lot of hard work, late nights, and dedication, but seeing everything come together was worth it,” said Student Council co-president Saanvi Budigam.“We truly gave our all to make this event memorable, and I’m so grateful for the passion and commitment everyone brought to the project.”
Ultimately, the Homecoming event this year was a success as many students left the gymnasium with smiles on their faces and their phone galleries filled to the brim with endless photos. As the students left by 9 PM, some continued their nights by eating at restaurants such as Taco Bell and Olive Garden to fill their stomachs with food after dancing the night away. Certainly looking back on the memories created by this enthralling night, students engaged in a never-forgetting 2024 highschool experience.
