Every school year, Heritage hosts an annual Welcome Back Dance for the student body. This year, dance took place on August 14 from 7:30 to 9:30 in both the main and auxiliary gyms. The dance is part of a Heritage tradition, welcoming incoming and returningstudents and creating an opportunity for new students to get involved and get a feel for the community at Heritage. Per tradition, the dance consists of students dressing up in different costumes from different movies, interests or whatever they might want to be.
However, this year, Heritage upperclassmen were called for a meeting the school day before the dance to go over rules expected at the dance. The meeting reinforced no mosh pits, no backflips, keeping feet on the ground, and setting a proper example to all incoming freshman and new students.
Zander Odegaard ‘27 shared his thoughts, saying, “I feel like it was unneeded, because everything they said at the meeting was restated at the [ Welcome Back ] assembly, so it was like, “what was the point telling us so many times?” Additionally, he said, “I think next time we should have a meeting with the underclassmen instead of the upperclassmen, because the upperclassmen already know the rules, And the upperclassmen were the ones breaking up the moshpits and the fights at the dance”
Payton Padilla ‘27 adds, “The meeting was too repetitive because I could tell no one wanted to listen to the rules. The meeting just seemed too over-predictive, which did not allow for the students to learn from their mistakes. It was better to just say it at the assembly.”
As shown in the quotes above, the upperclassmen at heritage claim the meeting was unnecessary, with the real problem being the underclassmen and how they acted at the dance. Starting mosh pits and unnecessary fights that are not a part of Heritage’s core values. Although moshpits and overall attitudes at the dance weren’t tolerated, the dance was still a great way for incoming students to get a feel for the Heritage community, making new friends and memories.