After Dimond’s disastrous Homecoming Dance last year, it was clear that major changes would be made to the 2018 Homecoming Dance.

Held on Sept. 14, Homecoming attracted a fairly large crowd, and was set up much differently.

One of the main changes to the dance was that it was held in Dimond’s main gym instead of the commons, which was where many dances were held in years past.

Since more than 700 students attended Homecoming, it was necessary that the dance was held in an area larger than the commons.

Last year, approximately 1,000 students attended Dimond’s Homecoming, and having that many students in a small area was both a safety and fire hazard.

           Student Government advisor Lem Wheeles said, “I think the gym was a good move. The commons were too compact, and allowing more room for students to spread out alleviated a lot of the confusion.”

So, while the gym was a large area to hold to the dance, it gave students a lot more room to move around.

Junior Chelsea Bruce said, “You can definitely tell that our dances have changed a lot. I liked having Homecoming in the main gym, though. It was really hard to move around at Homecoming last year, and there were just way too many people stuck in one small place.”

Personally, I see the huge crowd that attended Homecoming last year as the main reason for the dance getting shut down. Even if students hadn’t gotten too out of control, I’d guess that the dance would have been shut down anyway due to safety hazards resulting from that many people being confined to the commons.

By simply moving the dance into the main gym, I think Dimond solved a lot of the problems that past dances had.

Another noticeable change at the dance was the dancing itself. Even though Dimond has had new rules regarding dancing for some time, it was still very obvious that this dance was much different from past Dimond dances in the enforcement of dancing rules.

After last year’s Homecoming, car searches also became common at dances, but now students were told to get out of their cars completely while they were searched.

While this wasn’t a huge issue, it did create a very long line of cars trying to get into the dance, and I think that a new plan should be made to direct more cars into the parking lot at once so that such a large backup of cars can be prevented.

Senior Jayden Houston said, “I was surprised that they made everyone get out of their cars. It really made the process of getting into the dance a lot longer. I can see why they need to search cars, though. It makes the dance safer for everyone.”

This year, Homecoming did feel a lot more calm. It seemed like all the changes worked together to create a safer environment for students, and that reflected in the overall atmosphere of the dance.

Bruce said, “I think the dance was more fun this year, mostly because it didn’t have to end early, but also because people seemed a lot more relaxed.”

Overall, I would say this year’s Homecoming dance was a success for Dimond, and I would expect that future dances will be set up in a similar way.