One last dance

Kenzi Jones, Yearbook Assistant Editor

For decades, The Boy/Girl dance has always been a tradition, but there have been some changes the past two years. The dance is usually open to any upperclassmen boys, but that changed this year.

This year’s seniors have been trying to be involved in everything. During the football games, the rail in the student section is lined up with seniors. Varsity Prowler Ashlee Loomis, supports the boys during the games and also had a chance to dance with them.

“I love doing The Boy/Girl dance because it gives us the opportunity to dance with them on the field. We had a lot of senior boys that wanted to do it this year to be involved and we wanted them all to be able to, so we changed it to only seniors,” said Loomis.

This was only the second year that the homecoming pep assembly was held outside on the field, which was also a new change for The Boy/Girl dance. The past previous years, the dance is performed during the pep assembly and choreographed by the prowlers. This year there was only one pep assembly instead of two, so the prowlers had to make adjustments.

“This year we didn’t have a pep assembly on the first football game, so we didn’t get to do our hip hop routine when we normally did. So this year, we made the boy/girl dance shorter and mixed our hip hop dance in, and made the boy/girl dance involve partnering and like a ¨dance off¨ between the boys and the girls,” said Loomis.

Every year, when homecoming season comes around, the prowlers get together to decide who they want their partner to be and talk to the boys to see who wants to be involved. Senior Connor Houck participated in both Growlers and The Boy/Girl dance, but he liked Growlers better.

“The dance was good even though we messed up a couple times, I think growlers is more fun because even if we mess up, it is still funny and will look like we did a good job,” said Houck.

Some prowlers enjoy the boy/girl dance more because they get to dance together which makes the choreography easier for the boys to learn. Prowlers are used to learning new dances all the time, but learning to dance can be more of a challenge for boys.

“Getting to watch the boys come out of their shell during practice for both dances is super fun and watching them make the most of the dances, but I think The Boy/Girl dance is more fun because we are in it too, which makes it easier for them to learn because they will have a prowler right next to them in case they forget,” said Loomis.

Having the growler dance and Boy/Girl dance will give seniors an opportunity to be involved in the pep assembly, even if people are not involved in any other activities. In Houck’s case, he is just trying to make the most of his senior year.

“I’m just trying to get into everything I possibly can, so I won’t regret not doing something at the end of the year,” said Houck.

In the boy/girl dance this year there were 18 boys. With à higher number of senior boys this year, they tend to mess around because they just want to have fun their senior year. Head coach Cheryl Gray has experienced the dance over ten years.

“Learning choreography can be tough, especially with so many senior boys who get distracted easily, but the girls are doing a great job with the choreography,” said Gray.

Senior year is something to remember and being involved can create friends and memories to remember for years after high school. Growlers and the boy/girl dance is just a few of the many ways to be involved.