school dances in general. I find dances boring and not well planned out at Rose, however, I do find the lack of a homecoming dance to be strange. Even Conley, Rose’s rival school, has a homecoming dance. 

     Rose does seemingly make up for the lack of a homecoming dance with the Fall Formal, a dance similar to the traditional homecoming dance that is usually in early November. However, this year there is going to be a Winter Formal on Dec. 2 instead of the original Nov. 4 date. The dance was moved because of a football game that was scheduled for the same day as the dance, causing the Rose staff and administration to reschedule last minute to a Winter Formal. While the change to Winter Formal instead of Fall Formal doesn’t affect or bother me too much, some people may have had plans disrupted by this sudden and last minute change. Also, the dance being later in the year causes a very awkward spacing of time for other dances, with the Sadie Hawkins dance now only two months or so after the Winter Formal and Prom only about two months after that. This change in dances has caused a lot of confusion for all Rampants and should have been planned out better by the school board. I think that this all needs to be mapped out in advance and Homecoming should be much better planned out in general.

     Another strange aspect of Rose Homecoming is their Homecoming court. At most schools, there is a Homecoming queen and king that is elected by the students through a popular vote. There is then a ceremony recognizing the king and queen, with them being acknowledged by the entire school. At Rose, however, there strangely is no Homecoming king. There are only Homecoming princesses from each grade and a queen from the senior class that is usually determined out of four or five princesses. It is strange to me how there is no Homecoming king, as it is normally tradition for there to be both a queen and a king and there does not seem to be any valid reason for Rose’s way of doing the court. There has been a recent change in which males can be nominated for the Homecoming princesses, but that rarely happens and no addition of a king has been made. The addition of a Homecoming king would make Homecoming much more exciting for boys and would make the whole thing more fair. I think a Homecoming king should be implemented at Rose.

     The Homecoming traditions at Rose are very different from a stereotypical public high school. I personally am pretty content with the exclusion of a dance but I do think it is strange to lean so far from tradition. The absence of a Homecoming dance and unusual court make Homecoming at Rose unlike any other.