By Shannon Beck
Picture this: colorful lights, fancy outfits, and a whole bunch of smiles. This is something that every school experiences once a year, the homecoming dance. Mount Vernon’s dance was a hit; students gathered in the high school commons from 9-12 p.m. on Saturday.
“My favorite thing about homecoming was just dancing around and singing with my friends,” said junior Summer Brand. “I also loved seeing everyone dresses.”
This year’s homecoming dance was far from gloomy. Although it was rainy, that didn’t stop the student body from having lots of fun at the dance. “The only thing the rain affected was our pictures,” said Brand. “We were going to take them on Max Siders’ porch, but instead we had to go inside my house to take the pictures, but it all worked out just fine.”
Many students had trouble finding a place to eat if they didn’t make reservations ahead of time. Senior Maddie Naeve and her group ate at Napoli’s, a restaurant in Marion. “We made a reservation at Napoli’s, but we still had to wait about 15 minutes.” Many restaurants were busy with students from other schools like Solon, Linn-Mar and Marion, because they had their homecoming dance as well.
“I also liked that grinding was not as big of a deal as it has been in past years, said Naeve. “Dancing with friends, and having a good time is what matters.” The students danced to a playlist made by senior Alina Merlak, this year’s homecoming queen. Merlak made a playlist based off request from the students. Naeve said her favorite song was “Hood Go Crazy” by Tech N9ne, while others liked “Party In The U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus.
For freshmen, the homecoming dance was something completely new. “It was kind of cool seeing the commons decorated, “ said freshmen Quin Denes. “When we first got there, there weren’t many people dancing, but then more people started to come.” The bad weather sure didn’t stop the students from having a wonderful night.
“My favorite part of the day was getting ready, and the actually dance was super fun as well,” said Denes.
