The beginning of each school year is ripe with activity and excitement as students both new and old are welcomed back to campus. All of this energy eventually comes to a peak with the annual “Homecoming” dance and with the many activities in the week leading up to it (usually referred to as “Spirit week” or “Homecoming Week”).

For 9th grader Lukah Bates, this Homecoming Dance was particularly special for him, seeing as it was his first time participating in the yearly satin-laden spectacle.

“I can’t compare [it] to past years,” he admited, “because it was my first homecoming,” but nonetheless Bates described his impression of the events of that night as both “fun” and “cool”.

Mr. Bates attended the Homecoming Dance with his current girlfriend along with a group of his close friends. ” I got ready with my girlfriend at her house,” Bates recalled of the hours leading up to the event. “After the dance I went to my friend’s house with a couple others and hung out.”

In the end, Mr. Bates claimed to have fond memories of this year’s revelry that he’ll cherish for many years to come and he seems very excited to do it all again for next year’s homecoming dance.