Stud Gov juggles the many balls of Homecoming planning: Tickets, theme and safety

By Maya Malinowski, Camile Reyes Rojas, Saadya Mahmood and Boyeon Choi

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff––

With the Homecoming dance on Saturday fast approaching, students are clamoring for tickets. Unlike sports games this year, tickets are available in person, meaning lines have formed outside the finance office this week as students buy tickets.

Even with over 1,700 students at Davis High, there are only 800 tickets being sold for the upcoming dance. 300 tickets were sold for seniors on Monday, 200 for juniors on Tuesday, and 200 for sophomores on Wednesday, with the remaining 100 tickets reserved for Da Vinci, King, and DSIS students. 

Tickets for seniors were sold out before the start of lunch on Monday, and for juniors before school began on Tuesday.

Despite popular desire, it would be impossible to have every single student attend homecoming.

DHS bookkeeper Teri Arnold oversees Homecoming ticket sales and notes the struggles of selling tickets to such a large student body.

“There’s not enough space,” Arnold said. “Unless we use the football field, there is no facility on campus large enough.”

While the football field would allow for a larger dance, recent heat and rain have left the North Gym as the only viable venue, meaning attendance is capped at the capacity limits of the building.

Arnold receives many calls and complaints about the unfairness of limited ticket sales from both students and parents every year after ticket sales.

“I don’t know what would be the perfect solution. We are just trying the best we can,” Arnold said.

Fortunately, there is a new waitlist system that student government director Anthony Vasquez has implemented this year. Students hoping to get on the waitlist are given the opportunity to leave their names at the finance office, where waitlist priority is based on grade level and then first-come-first-serve. 

With so many students expected to attend and so little time to plan and prepare, the student government class has been working incredibly hard. 

“It’s been more difficult than previous years since homecoming is usually later on in the year,” said Ashlyn Swanson, vice president of student government.

This year’s theme is Hall of Fame, which was decided by a vote amongst the student government class. 

“I like how the theme “The Ball” has a double meaning of a formal dance/event and also a literal ball that is used in sports. I think it’s a nice twist and a very smart idea,” sophomore Pearline Qin said.

However, student government dance coordinator Grace Fabionar promises that the theme won’t dominate the dance itself. 

“We didn’t want to put footballs on the wall,” Fabionar said. Instead, decorations will mostly focus on the school colors, with streaks of blue and white adorning the walls. 

Significant time and thought have also gone into implementing changes and new safety protocols for the dance so that some of last year’s problems don’t resurface. 

One problem from last year, said Vice Principal Sonam Singh, was that people were throwing around uncapped water bottles. In hopes of combatting this issue, there will be a designated space outside for food and drinks, separate from the dance.

There is also a new protocol for mosh pits. Mosh pits and crowd surfing are still not allowed, but in the event that one happens, the music will be changed to a slow song.

“(Our) number one job is to make sure everyone is safe,” Singh said. 

Another safety protocol implemented this year is surrounding bags and purses. All bags brought to the dance must be transparent and checked at the door. Vice Principal Chandra Wengler said that the administration understands that student government is frustrated, but that this requirement is following general trends. 

Additionally, students will be required to take a breathalyzer test if the present administration has “reasonable suspicion”, said Wengler, which is in line with California Ed Code. 

If a student is showing signs of being under the influence, the school nurse will follow the DITEP (Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals) guidelines to determine whether the student is under the influence or not. 

If a student is found to be under the influence, their parents or guardians will be contacted to come take them home. 

“(The) purpose is to have fun,” Wengler said, but it should be “drug and alcohol-free”.