The first dance whipped right around the corner for Vernon Hills High School students. Homecoming posters and proposals filled the hallways just weeks before the big day. 

The Student Council president, Caden Tran (12), is very excited for the planning of the dances this year. The student council meets every day 8th period and they have a lot in mind to really make the dance a better experience. 

They added engaging and fun activities for the students such as cold sparkler fountains to make the dance “very hype and fun for all students” according to Tran. These cold sparkler fountains were at the fall recognition assembly, trying to attract more students to the dances. 

Mrs. Oliver, a Social Studies teacher at VHHS, is very proud of the hard work Student Council is contributing. 

Oliver states, “Mostly everything is all on these guys [executive board], and in our other meeting, part of it was the full Student Council and getting their ideas to bring back to the Executive Board”. 

This gives the opportunity for a variety of students to spread their voices and make a change to the dance. 

According to Dr. Beagle, the Director of Student Activities, the budget for the DJ is bundled together for the three dances and kick-off. This allows the school to save the most money. 

Beagle states that they buy the streamers and hallway decorations in bulk to save throughout the years, and use extra money for things like the balloon artist on hat day and the prizes for the spirit winners during homecoming week.

Their only goal is to break even and use the money on the equipment added to the gym, which is why the ticket prices are so pricey states Mrs. Oliver, with pre-orders at priced at $25 and at-the-door tickets priced at $30 dollars

Some students like Mia Mihalic (11) go to different school dances such as Libertyville High School and believe it has a lot more engaging activities. 

Mihalic stated, “The (Libertyville) dance was more energetic and people were actually dancing and involved instead of standing around on their phones.”

For people like Mihalic, time flew by at the dances and they had a great time. Information like this questions our school spirit. Staff and students are putting in work to try and make the dance an overall more fun experience according to Tran, as they are trying to give everyone an opinion.

Bringing up the energy at the school dances and becoming involved are big factors in making the dance a better time, according to Mihalic. The engaging activities such as the cold sparkler fountains and the giant board games in the foyer that student council added to get more students involved.

Student council is very busy this year planning the dances, and is trying to really make it engaging for all students.