A dive into the new homecoming dance and what’s in store.
BY RYAN CHO ’25, PHOTOS BY ELLISON KASE ’23
The 2023 Homecoming dance lands on the premises of UAHS on Sept. 23. With the theme of outer space, this dance is going to be out of this world.
The student council led by Kim Brown, a social studies teacher at UAHS, is in the process of creating an exciting experience for all. Nicknamed “Project R,” it will be a surprise for those who attend.
“Project R is about to land on UAHS and mark the moon on UA,” senior student council member Claire Geistfeld said.
Project R is a secret project that was introduced to the student council by Geistfeld and quickly gained traction as the main feature for this Homecoming.
“I would just say Project R is in the works,” said Geistfeld. “I’m going to be talking with the woodshop teacher … and students about how to build it mathematically and engineeringly, if that even is a word. I just think that it would be cool to have something different.”
This sentiment is shared by many other juniors and seniors, with one example being senior Mikey Gentner, the student council president.
“I think it’s going to be the best Homecoming that I’ve experienced,” Gentner said. “My first Homecoming was in 2020, and the theme was Maskerade at the Marv, but the masque in masquerade was spelled mask. So, I think it’s been interesting to see the progress that we made since 2020.”
Working together with co-president Allie Gomez, Gentner believes to have finalized the costs of the tickets.
“Right now, we are going to have a presale of $24, but as the dance approaches, it’s going to be increased to $28,” Gentner said.
This wasn’t the only group effort, as the process for choosing the theme of the Homecoming dance required each member of the student council to contribute.
“Well, Allie and I, and the rest of the student council officers, we have a group chat, and we have previously talked about different themes that we thought would be fun and [that] other students would like,” Gentner said. “We were then able to present these ideas and ask the other student council representatives what ideas they had, and then we put them in a google form and voted.”
Some of these themes were wildly different from what was shown on the google form, but with more than a dozen ideas, they had to be narrowed down to the four that were given to the student body.
“I, personally, in the early stages of Homecoming planning suggested, an almost like a Garden of Eden theme,” Mia Gillum, a junior student council member, said. “I think that would have been really pretty if we would have been able to incorporate flowers or a flower wall.”
However, there was one aspect of Homecoming that was left solely for the student body to choose: the music. Music is very important for Homecomings, as they are one of biggest sources of entertainment and also set the tone for the night. On a form sent out on Aug. 31, students were allowed to submit their own music choices.
As a result, many students will be happy to hear some of their music being played alongside other songs chosen by other students.
“I’m a rap listener, but I’m also a country girl, so I do like me some 21 Savage, but I also enjoy a little bit of Morgan Wallen,” Gillum said. “Just a little bit of variety so everybody is happy with what’s going on.”
“By the way everybody else talked about it, my standards are up high,” freshman student council member Olivia Fenstermacher said. “I just kinda hope that people are dancing and having fun opposed to whatever happened in middle school.”
As both a new student at UAHS and a new student council member, Fenstermacher is very excited for their first Homecoming in the high school. With Project R landing in a few days and music chosen by the student body, the 2023 Homecoming dance will be unlike any other.
“Everyone should go because it’s fun, and especially if you’re a freshman, come in and experience it,” Fenstermacher said.