BY ADAM PRESTON

It’s that time of year once again at Truman High School. Homecoming is right around the corner and may have even passed by the time of this publication. Every year, Truman Staff and Student Leadership advertise their hearts out in an attempt to sell tickets to students for a 3-hour long party here at the school. It is truly a time-honored tradition that goes back even before the founding of Truman high school, one that I personally never have nor will partake in. Ever since freshman year, I have always looked at Homecoming as an opportunity to waste my time and money on something that would never replicate the fun I have with my close friends; nor could I have imagined wanting to spend a Saturday at school for something that was not related to JROTC. It always felt that homecoming was never really given a valid reason for taking place here, and only recently have the realization come that Homecoming is generally a giant waste. It is a waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of resources for both students and schools in multiple ways.

Whenever I argue against homecoming and mention time, I mean productiveness. Homecoming takes place during two very important sections of the week: on Saturday between seven and ten. While yes, the argument could be made that it is only three hours, those three hours are at a peak for some businesses which hire students and are between time students may need to spend working on projects or at home. Furthermore, Saturdays are meant to be students’ primary days of fun. A day where they may relax and unwind after a stressful week at school, or when they may have the free time to hang out with friends who they might not see very often. Students need to go out of their way to not only secure a ticket but then follow it up by getting the right clothes and scheduling time to spend at this event that may be better off spent elsewhere. After all, what exactly is appealing about going to a dance with a bunch of sweaty and angsty teenagers?

Then of course there is the financial side of this argument. Think for a moment, if you will, about what you can use ten dollars for. Consider your options carefully, as you consider the utility you could get from just ten dollars. Perhaps fueling your car? Maybe buying essentials? What about food? These three instances alone are reason enough to cause you to spend your money elsewhere. It is unreasonable and illogical to spend a valuable ten-dollar bill on a three-hour experience, on a day off for your recovery, study, or work, only to then proceed to spend hundreds, if not more or less, on an outfit or dress plus however much else you intend to spend on your potential date. That original ten dollar leads to a potential loss of hundreds; with spending going into the 100s for a three-hour experience.

Finally, there are the actual effects of these dances being held. Have you ever considered how much it costs the school? With the number of tickets, they incentivize the sale of, one could only imagine the price and resources necessary to complete this one night. If we were to assume 200 students purchased tickets to homecoming, a fairly generous bounty, that would mean they raised $2000 in tickets, but are now tasked with hosting and plausibly feeding 200, alongside their dates more than likely. It is, therefore, likely that the actual cost of homecoming is greater than two thousand dollars, and likely goes higher than what even I anticipate. Even if we were to just use the ticket sales number, imagine what programs such as Choir, Visual Arts, or even JROTC could use two-thousand dollars with. If a school can afford a new softball diamond, a tennis court, fund a football team that hasn’t won any major games in recent memory, and then proceed to spend thousands on a 3-hour long event whilst having artistic and leadership programs struggle with even finding necessities, it leads you to wonder what exactly Truman is doing with its funding, and what priorities it holds.

If it is anything to go off of, if you haven’t bought a ticket to homecoming yet, maybe you should just flat-out avoid it. There is little to any merit to going, and your time and money are better spent elsewhere doing something productive, or even just fun.