By: Meilan Solly
The night was full of long, flowing dresses, two inch high heels, elegant neckties, and delectable dishes. It sounds like a scene out ofCinderella, but also describes the 2010 Tuscarora Homecoming Dance.
On October 23^rd, 2010, students at Tuscarora High School converged in the main gym of their school to celebrate the coming year at the very first homecoming dance. The evening started off with friends meeting together to get ready, then having dinner and taking pictures for parents. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors formed their own unique expectations. Darrian Pickett, an 11^th grader, did not have very high hopes for the night, because she didn’t want to set the bar too high. She thinks that juniors weren’t as excited for the dance as other grades because they’ve already been to homecoming two times. “We’re more concerned with things like prom, which most of us haven’t experienced yet,” Pickett adds. Ashleigh Tinston, a 9^th grader, said that juniors and sophomores already knew what to expect, while everything was brand new for the freshmen. “I probably thought it was cooler than it really was,” she says.
Starting at 8 p.m., students entered Tuscarora to attend the dance. In order to get into the gym, people had to wait in line and have their names and tickets checked. Ashleigh Tinston and Rachel Boris, both freshmen, thought this process was not well planned. They suggested that next year students be checked in as they walk in the door to prevent long lines and frustration. However, the two girls forgot all about this inconvenience once they started dancing. Boris says, “Everyone was kind of with everybody.”
An important tradition of homecoming is electing a court of princes and princesses. This year’s winners were a diverse group, with students who participated in gymnastics, volleyball, cross country, football, and many other extracurricular activities. For the freshmen, Kelly Shepherd and Michelle Fleagle became representatives for the girls, and John Boris and Richie Todd for the boys. Jenny Klug, Yuna Miyamoto, Kyle O’Connor, and Jimmy Mendoza made up the sophomore winners. The oldest group of students at Tuscarora had the most semi-finalists, with 8 grade winners overall; Katelynn Price, Caty Beegan, Kaylie Etheridge, Jackie Dignan, Bernie Mayflower, Danny Chicas, Justin Humphries, and Brad White. Out of all of these students, Danny Chicas and Jackie Dignan were declared the Homecoming Prince and Princess.
Once the dance ended, attendees reflected on the night. “It was everything I thought a high school homecoming would be,” Ashleigh Tinston says.  Darrian Pickett’s thoughts on the matter were, “The dance was fun because we made the best of it. The flaws of the dance didn’t make the night any less fun.”
October 23^rd, 2010 was when the very first dance at Tuscarora High School took place. It ended at 11 p.m., leaving many students pleased with how the homecoming had gone. When asked what the best part of the night was, Ashleigh Tinston summed it up in four words, “How could I choose?”