Along with the start of a new school year comes a whole lot of homework, stress and lack of sleep. From day one, I spend countless amount of minutes throughout the school day staring at my phone, watching the countdown until Thanksgiving break. The only thing that keeps my spirit somewhat up through the month of September is homecoming.

Until my freshman year, I never really understood what all the excitement revolving homecoming was about. I mean, it’s just a dance after all. I don’t know if it was the glitter bomb I was hit with or just the intense amount of school spirit, but something finally made me come to a realization that homecoming is way more than just some stupid dance.

I’ve always viewed homecoming as what sets your personal attitude for the rest of the school year. If you go into homecoming with a bad attitude, choosing not to participate, how do you expect the rest of the year to go? The purpose of homecoming is to have fun and get excited about school, so wear a crazy outfit on your spirit day and be obnoxiously enthusiastic, because that’s the point of it. If you choose not to get involved, you’re only stopping yourself from having fun.

Homecoming is also the time of year where students still have a little sparkle in their eye, just coming out of summer. By skipping the homecoming festivities, you will miss the only time where students are actually excited to be at school. Everyone is happy to support their class and team, and it’s those times where you meet so many new people and create memories.

The best part of homecoming week has to be the dance, yet so many students choose to skip it because it’s “pointless” and “boring.” For people who say they have better things to do with their time than go to the dance: homecoming is literally an excuse to dress up, eat, sing and dance with friends. What could be better than that?

I can almost guarantee you that, if you let it, homecoming will be one of your greatest high school memories. The worst thing that could happen is you don’t like it, you go home, and you forget about it. It’s only one night of your life, and the school puts in a lot of time and effort to make it a great one. You’ll never be able to get the memory back, so why not embrace it?