High school, especially East, has many elements: academics, clubs, sports and dances. This past Saturday, the Welcome Back Dance was canceled. The main reason was due to poor attendance in past years.

As long as anyone in the building has remembered, there has been a Welcome Back Dance offered to members of all grades in the beginning of each school year, with the exception of last year and this year. Dwindling school spirit and lack of attendance at many school events have been the main contributors to this change in scheduling.

“SGA’s [Student Government Association] goal is to make as much money as possible for charity,” said Michael Dappolone, SGA advisor and chemistry teacher at East.

The Welcome Back Dance costs $1500 to coordinate and organize, and if there were to be a poor turnout, that would waste $1500—something SGA is not willing to do, since the effort their organization put forth would have also gone to waste.

To compensate for the lack of a Welcome Back Dance within the school’s schedule of events, a new dance has been introduced. The Snowball Dance was introduced two years ago, and was a success last year. The Snowball Dance occurred last year on December 14. However, Student Government does not plan on having a Snowball Dance this year due to an addition being brought back by popular demand.

An interest has been expressed by students and some faculty to bring back the Homecoming Dance. Although Homecoming has not occurred at East for a very long time, due to conflicts with the concept of Homecoming King and Queen, this year it shall. Details are not finite yet, but the Homecoming Dance is supposed to be part of the events during Spirit Week, and the dance itself is possibly scheduled for the night of October 25th. More details will be announced as plans are completed.

Although the Welcome Back Dance was canceled, it was done so for a logical reason, and in the best interest of the student body. The bright side: we have Homecoming to look forward to!