Features

Students find creative ways to ask each other to Homecoming

Lauren Stone, Special Sections Editor|September 23, 2013

It was a typical August afternoon, but as junior Megan Tolar drove home, something caught her eye that made her heart stop. Blowing gently in the breeze, a line of bright yellow police tape surrounded her front porch, alerting Tolar that her house could be the scene of a serious crime. With sweaty palms, she got out of the car, unsure of what to think until she noticed boyfriend Ryan Pasco’s writing on the sidewalk that said ‘I’m dying to go to Homecoming with you.’ Feelings of concern were replaced with excitement as she whipped out her phone and typed up one message, ‘Oh my god yes, this is awesome.’

This year Homecoming was held on Sept. 21, much earlier than the mid-October date from past years. For anyone willing to look hard enough, ideas on how to ask someone to the dance are countless, regardless of relationship status. While having the dance early in the school year helps keep up school spirit, it also leaves students with less time than usual to find someone that they want to ask to the dance and actually go through with asking. For upperclassmen, this may not be much of a problem because they already know their peers, but freshman haven’t had the time to get to know their fellow classmates.

“Well, I think it’s fine [that Homecoming is early], except that in terms of people getting to know each other and scoping out a possible date, I think it’s really hard,” freshman English teacher Marin McCrossen said. “Especially for the younger kids. I think the freshmen are still trying to find their way in every regard- physically, emotionally, mentally. They’re still in that limbo area, especially this early.”

Freshmen, with their lack of Homecoming experience, are working to understand the ins and outs of school dances, but that hasn’t dampened their spirit.

“For the freshman, we haven’t done this yet, so it’s a big deal for us,” freshman Trevor Seyl said. “It’s our first time so that’s probably why [Homecoming is such a big deal].”

For students who have already dealt with Homecoming, the biggest issue they are facing is trying to come up with unique ways to ask their special someone to the dance. Even couples that are in an established relationships have pressure put on them to be flashy when asking each other to the dance.

“The thing that strikes me as so funny is that if you’re already in a relationship with somebody, there is still the expectation that you ask your boyfriend or girlfriend to the dance in a very creative way, which is kind of funny because it’s not like you’re going to get a ‘no’ answer probably,” McCrossen said. “But the pressure is still there to come up with something really creative.”

That pressure leaves students turning to every resource they have, especially friends, to find the perfect idea.

“One of my friends told me that doing stuff with chalk is always fun,” Pasco said. “But I was like, ‘you know, chalk’s a little bit lame,’ so I might just think about it for a little bit. Then I came up with the idea to do a crime scene with an outline of chalk and ask that way.”

Instead of bouncing ideas off of friends, other students rely on inside jokes to base their homecoming ideas off of.

“I wanted to surprise him,” senior Matilyn Moes said about asking her boyfriend to the dance. “We both had an inside joke that the police would be out to get us one day, so that’s how I came up with the idea to go over to his work and get all his managers and co-workers involved. I stood outside with a cake and balloons that said, ‘Will you go to the dance with me?’ and his co-workers told him that the police were outside waiting for him since they saw him speeding down 119th Street, so he flipped out and ran out back and I asked him that way.”

With so many ideas floating around, it leaves students with the choice of using a classic approach, or making a big, bold statement as they ask their would-be date to the dance. While asking someone to the dance in a creative way has its supporters, some favor the traditional approach because it puts less pressure on the person being asked to say yes.

“I’d go with flowers and chocolate just because it’s not like I’m going to buy this gazillion dollar something and you have to say yes,” Seyl said. “I might put a rose in her locker through the vent with a note attached to it saying ‘Homecoming’ and her name on it.”

Despite which approach they take, students often tend to try to one-up each other when asking dates to the dance.

“I think the trend has been toward outdoing one another with the creativity, and that’s fun as long as you’re not the one who has to come up with it,” McCrossen said. “I don’t have to think of any ideas, so I love looking around and thinking ‘Oh, that was a really good one.’”

Regardless of how they plan on doing it, students agree that adequate time for planning and preparation is a solid first step in asking their date to the dance, and sometimes preparation requires getting friends and co-workers in on the master plan.

“It took a week to figure out what I wanted to do and then another week to plan with all of his co-workers and get his friends involved,” Moes said. “13 people knew, and I had full trust in them because they knew it was supposed to be a surprise.”

Even though some employ the help of a small army, others choose to only have a select group of close friends assist them in getting ready to ask.

“I didn’t tell anybody until one or two days before because I needed somebody to help me set up,” Pasco said.

After all the planning and preparation has been carried out, the final step students have to take is to make sure that their date doesn’t find out how they are going to get asked.

“I had no idea. At first when my car pulled up, I was like ‘Holy crap someone got murdered on my porch,’” Tolar said. “But then I saw that I was getting asked to Homecoming, and it was awesome.”