It’s 7:30 in the morning, you’re in first period as you’re waiting for the morning announcements to finish so your class can get started. You overhear that the football and homecoming parade are next weekend, but for the first time while being in-person, you hear that there’s not going to be a homecoming dance.

Students at Loy Norrix have been informed that there will be no homecoming dance after the football game on October 15th because of COVID regulations. A lot of students have different opinions and points of view l about the dance being canceled.

“Honestly, I’m really disappointed because it’s something I was really looking forward to especially after being gone for a year and missing out on all the school events, coming back and not having that is just disappointing,” said junior Naysa Quinones.

According to the Loy Norrix yearbook archives, the first ever homecoming dance took place in 1961 at Milwood Magnet Middle School. Because of COVID-19, there wouldn’t be any way we could do that now

The pandemic has really taken a toll on high schoolers’ social interactions. From October 6 to October 13, Kalamazoo’s total cases were 695 according to the COVID Data Tracker. Kalamazoo Public Schools has been trying their best to follow COVID regulations.

“The issue is people dancing close together and stand[ing] in a big group, we just can’t allow that right now,” said art teacher and freshman class advisor Cindy Van Lieu. “If you could dance four feet apart, then we’d be okay, but because of COVID regulations, we can’t have you jammed close together. Even with a mask, it’s too still close.”

According to the Kalamazoo Public Schools website, regulations keeping our schools safe are staying home if you don’t feel well, washing your hands, sanitizing the desks, social distancing when possible, and requiring masks.

Even though students are going to miss out on the homecoming dance this year due to COVID, some are still reminiscing on their past experiences at the dance.

“I went to the homecoming dance my freshman year, and honestly I had a really good time. I didn’t bring a date, I just had a group of friends and we all just hung out. So that’s kind of the main thing I miss about it, just being there with my friends,” said senior Donovan Wilson.

In the end, some students may miss out on their homecoming dance this year, but there will still be fun activities in the future that they can hope for such as pep rallies, a pumpkin painting party, and possibly the winter formal dance.