Every year, high schools around the country kick off the beginning of their school year with a homecoming dance, and every year at West, people complain about our Homecoming.

Many people often complain about the theme or the music or the activities available. In the hallways and in  classrooms, I hear people grumble about how homecoming is going to be boring and how they aren’t going to go. They say the music is bad and the vibes just aren’t there. However, what many people fail to realize is they often have the opportunity to make homecoming an exciting event.

The student body is able to vote on the theme for the homecoming dance. I want to point out many people didn’t like the theme for this year, including myself. A lot of people I know wanted another theme to be chosen. Now, one would expect that majority of the student body would vote on the theme, considering how many people I’ve heard complain. Yet, this year, according to Student Activities Director Caitlin Lucci, only 659 students voted on the theme. That may seem like a lot of people, but we are a school of about 2,600 students. That’s only 25 percent of the student population.

Now, I get it, some people don’t see the flyers around the school or don’t want to vote. Others feel their vote doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. This low voting efficacy is the root of why many don’t feel our homecoming dance lives up to the expectations other high schools have for their dances.

Another part of why people grumble about homecoming is the music. They say there is often too much of one genre and the wide variety of music tastes at West isn’t represented. In order to make music suggestions, flyers were passed around with QR codes during lunch periods for people to input their ideas. Again, the outcome of this was incredibly low. Only 187 song suggestions were submitted.

Circling back to the main issue at hand, students don’t feel their suggestions and ideas are being represented. This low motivation to make a difference is what causes homecoming to be, what some would call, a drag. With low voting efficacy and a lack of school spirit, it makes sense that people don’t like the outcome of homecoming.

With that, my idea for my fellow classmates is this: if you don’t like how something turned out or you want something to happen, make your voice be heard. Use the avenues  given to you to speak up, and if, for some reason, you don’t have access to those avenues go directly to the source of who can handle the issue. That’s why we have building administration. They are here to ensure a decent high school experience for us, while also maintaining a safe and equitable learning environment.

So, yes, Homecoming, Gloco or whatever you want to call it does need a revamp, and it starts with us.