Sophomores-only dance

Sophomores-only+dance

Azrael Wolf, Staff Writer

Prom. The last word you want to hear right now.

Your friends are chatting about it, the dresses are more expensive than ever and people are planning their cheesy promposals. One of the biggest events of the school year is on the rise. Even the freshman have their own down at East Campus.

But in all the commotion, one grade of high schoolers walk behind it all, waiting for their turn — the sophomores. While the juniors plan everything and the seniors put on their tuxes, the sophomores waddle behind, watching them and thinking about when they’ll be dancing the night away. Sophomores are allowed to go to prom, but only if they have an upper class date.

Don’t get me wrong: I understand that juniors get to go because they planned it for the seniors, but what doesn’t make sense is that freshmen get a seperate one. Including the freshman is nice because it gives them something to look forward to at the end of the year, but then they have to wait another two years for the real thing. Why do all the grades get to feel the hype and excitement of a school dance right before summer, while most sophomores sit at home binging Netflix, envying their junior and senior pals? Sophomores should at least have a sophomore-only dance, to increase social skills, help them feel included and get used to their peers.

We get it, we’re usually less mature than juniors and seniors, one of the reasons we generally don’t get an open invitation to prom. The purpose of any school-sponsored event is to give students the chance to develop their social skills.  Attending prom, or an event similar, is the perfect chance for sophomores to develop those skills. It’s just as important to increase our social skills as it is any other grade, and the earlier the better. If we had a sophomore-only dance, not only would sophomores have the chance to increase their social skills; we would also be more prepared for our real prom in the years to come.

Sometimes I think sophomores are forgotten. We’re the middle child. All the attention is on the seniors, who are about to go to college or start their careers. The freshmen also get a lot of attention: they’re fresh out of middle school and are just starting their journey, not knowing what awaits. Even the juniors get attention: they’re about to become the new seniors, and they have to pick up where seniors left off. Meanwhile the sophomores are looked over. They’re no longer new like the freshman, and they’re not old enough to have responsibility like the juniors and seniors. A sophomore-only dance would prove that the school still cares about us, and it would prove to the other grades that we’re just as important as them, and responsible enough to organize our own event.

Most sophomores at MHS are going to be stuck with roughly the same people for the next two years, and in high school, you don’t really meet people outside your friend group, except in extracurricular activities. A sophomore-only dance would allow us to get to know our peers better and possibly make new friends and new connections. Some people’s best memories of high school are from dances, and that usually comes from the people that are there with them. And most grades rarely are able to mingle with just their peers, except in class. This would provide that time, to allow us to meet people just our age and find out more about ourselves and others. Relationships built at dances can span across the rest of high school, which is why it’s so important.

I understand the counterargument that sophomores shouldn’t get a free pass to prom if they don’t help with planning or fundraising. There’s also validity to the argument that creating a sophomore-only prom will make the actual prom less special. That’s why it doesn’t have to be a sophomore prom, per se. It can be just a regular school dance, similar to Homecoming, but without a game and exclusively sophomores. It doesn’t even have to be in April or May; just sometime in the second semester. The sophomore STUCO could put it together on a random Saturday in March. It could even have an entry fee like a real prom so it’s still giving back to the school. There doesn’t have to be a themed week or fancy limos or cheesy dance proposals (unless individual students feel like it); just a small sophomore dance, to improve social skills, provide inclusion and socializing with our peers.