By: Kyle Auger

Sports Editor

Last Thursday’s Welcome Back Dance was filled with controversy, rebellion, and makes the outlook for future dances very grim.

Roughly 475 students attended the dance but none seemed too happy to be in attendance. From my experience at the event, most conversation was based on the rules and strategies to avoid trouble.

Groups of students eventually migrated to the middle of the dance floor and began to grind, causing administrators to grab students and warn students about the illicit behaviors. These warnings caused something of an outrage as one student was lifted on top of the crowd and passed around.

After the temporary loss of control, the chaperones turned on the lights and gave another stern warning. Once again the warning caused more anger and people reverted to grinding again. This went on for about twenty minutes as more and more students were removed from the crowd.

This wild crowd provoked a comical “5-7 minute cool down”. It was apparent this was a strategy to stop the increase in grinding, and students basically stood on the dance floor to once again grind. After the rest, the grinding was more wide spread and the separating of students became rampant, as the rebellion peaked to the boiling point. This “cool down” was a valiant effort but was not dealt with correctly, the title of the break was what made students angry, and maybe a small lie would have defused the situation a little better, perhaps a strike of “technical difficulties”?

This climax was when Principal Jim Antonelli took the microphone and said if he caught another couple grinding the dance would cease. This announcement caused a mass exit and at least half of the students left or waited outside.

The frustration was palpable and the  consensus among students was that nobody would attend the next dance.

This isn’t just bad for people’s social lives,  it is detrimental to class trips, sports teams, and other activities that dances fund.

The Welcome Back Dance raised roughly $3800 but it would be surprising if the next dance will be as lucrative because of the expected drop in attendance.

This rule change provides quite a challenge for administration and class officers as they need to find a replacement for funding. With the Halloween Dance approaching, it will be interesting to see the change in attendance, and when it is presumably negative, clubs and classes will need to come up with new fundraising techniques.

The best replacement may be something athletic, say another dodgeball or 3 on 3 basketball tournament? These choices may be better because it takes peoples’ minds off of the dances and will be sure to draw a big crowd. It is now time for class officers to get creative.