With the fall season comes exciting functions for the student body such as spirit week, Messwood football games and the homecoming dance, seen as the culmination of these opening festivities.
This year, however, students were upset by the homecoming theme itself, and the way it was chosen.
The Student Council Executive Board originally selected fiesta as the homecoming theme. It was met with apathetic shrugs and scoffs from some students, but gleeful excitement from others.
We support the decision to change the homecoming theme from fiesta to superhero. Although students probably would have behaved respectfully, keeping the fiesta theme would not have been worth the risk of potentially belittling or degrading someone’s culture.
However, we, along with other students, are offended by the fact that the student body’s opinion was not considered in choosing either homecoming theme.
In past years, Student Council, our elected representatives, brainstormed three or four homecoming theme ideas, and students ultimately selected the theme by voting in homeroom. The school functioned as a democracy, in which the student body’s opinion mattered.
This year, the Student Council Executive Board chose the theme without putting it to a vote, even to the rest of Student Council. The entire Student Council is a more representative body, as only female upperclassmen are on the Executive Board.
Upperclassmen noted that, in the past, all students have been allowed to vote on the prom theme, although prom is primarily for juniors and seniors. Accordingly, all students should vote for the homecoming theme because, unlike prom, students of every grade level are invited to homecoming.
We understand and support the theme change from fiesta to superhero. Shorewood is a progressive community, and we maintain our values by being conscious of potential problems such as racism and cultural appropriation.
Without a doubt, the student body should have been consulted in choosing the initial and replacement themes. Students are frustrated with the superhero theme: they wish that their opinions had been taken into account and feel this was a letdown from past years.
by the Ripples staff
