Homecoming is a highly attended event at Benilde- St. Margaret’s that students look forward to every year. Due to concerns about the safety of students and staff, BSM has developed plans to change some parts of Homecoming next year.

In the past two years the dances have looked a little different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prom last year was only offered to seniors and was hosted outdoors at The ROC in St. Louis Park. This option was considerably better than homecoming which was not offered to any students last year. Last year’s cancellation caused a dramatic increase in attendance this year. “The kids were excited to finally come together. Over 800 kids were registered to go to homecoming out of the 900 students. So I think that was really successful,” Assistant Principal Cami Dahlstrom said.

This year the homecoming dance was held in the Haben Center with activities in other spaces. There was a movie playing in the theater, ping pong tables in the English and science hallways, a fire pit outside and ice cream sandwiches by the wrestling room. “I liked the array of activities offered at homecoming, sometimes it’s nice to get a break from the hot dance floor. My favorite part was the ice cream sandwiches,” Senior Allie Vanstelton said.

As the dance progressed students became more rowdy, pushing and shoving in the mosh pit, crowd surfing and throwing ice cream sandwiches. This prompted administrators to kick all of the students out of the Haben Center in an attempt to stop the madness. “Moshing has been a concern as we know that people can get seriously hurt […] So it’s always a concern when we have a DJ or people dancing and crowd surfing,” Dahlstrom said.

After this the majority of students gathered outside of the front entrance and Haben while staff stood blocking the exits so students had to stay on school grounds. With only five minutes left of the dance, students stormed the parking lot. This type of behavior raises obvious concerns for administrators. “We’re not in the business of being the police and being in a police line. If kids don’t want to be there, we are not going to put any more of our faculty and staff in danger,” Dahlstrom said.

Many students and faculty believe changes to upcoming dances may help prevent this behavior as well as make the dance more enjoyable for all students. “I think if we had more activities for students to do, so they had options, it would improve the events. I also think if we held activities or learned how to dance sessions beforehand so students knew how to dance to certain songs,” math John Groess.

One change that might help improve dances is to limit the amount of students at the dance while making the event more inclusive as a whole. “We are talking about pulling the freshmen from the homecoming dance and having a different event for them because next year the homecoming football game is actually going to be on a Saturday. So the dance would be for sophomores, juniors and seniors. The dance itself will probably be the same and be like a dance floor in the Haben Center and then some activities in other places too,” Dahlstrom said.

The dance floor is one place that administrators strive to keep safe, as most injuries stem from mosh pits. Making safe spaces where students can still enjoy the dance is one option to improve the overall event. “We don’t like to shut down the music but we need to keep everyone safe at the end of the day. As for everything else I think I would like to make more activities available, we talked about doing a video game room in the library. Having a bunch of promethium boards and having tournaments that way,” Dahlstrom said.

Another change to homecoming next year will be activities before and after the football game. Traditionally the parent association always does a barbeque the Friday night of the game, instead they are thinking of doing a morning brunch tailgate. “We want to get more alumni involved, doing a parade and potentially shutting down streets and actually having our feeder schools do a float as well. So it’s not only for current students, but also for a community past, present and future,” Dahlstrom said.

Administration has not come out with a set in stone plan for next year’s festivities; the proposed changes will most likely not be released until early next school year. The students that have been made aware of these changes have had an overall positive reaction. “Growing up in Edina I would always go to the Edina homecoming parade and it was always the highlight of all my and all my friends’ football season. I think it’s good to involve more people, like the band will be in it. I like that everyone will have a role in it, it will make everyone more excited for the dance itself,” junior Annie Juckniess said.