The warm glow of lanterns and fairy lights illuminates the cafeteria, the room transformed from a mundane high school into a scene straight out of a fairy tale. Lanterns adorn the ceilings, their inviting radiance drawing students in. On Saturday, Oct. 19, the student body gathered at Westwood for the annual Homecoming Dance, the grand finale to a long week of Homecoming festivities. 

For many students, the evening of fun started hours before the dance as they got ready, ate dinner, and took pictures with their friends. 

“Today, me and my twin went to my friend’s house, and we all did our hair, and we all made little flower bouquets,” Maddy Ziegler ‘27 said. “And [for] the flowers, we all went out and bought different colors, and then we matched it with the color of our dresses.”

Organized by Pacesetters, the dance was the culmination of lots of planning from various committees within the organization to not only successfully pull off logistics such as decorations and DJs, but also promote the dance to the student body. 

“I was on the marketing team [for the Homecoming dance], so we basically made all the posters around the school and we put little slips of paper on peoples’ cars, and that was just to market the dance,” Pacesetter Sophia Nikazm ‘27 said. “There [were] different committees like decorating, who put the dance together, and then afterwards we all cleaned up everything.”

The theme for this year’s dance, Tangled, was also determined by the Pacesetters. The school was decorated with classic imagery from the movie, such as the lanterns, and followed the gold and purple color scheme associated with what is a childhood favorite for many students. 

“I really liked this year’s theme — this is my favorite that we’ve had,” Annie Curtis ‘26 said. “I think some themes can be overdone but I’ve never seen a Tangled theme, and I think Tangled is such a pretty aesthetic.”

This was also the first time that the Homecoming dance has included a silent disco in addition to the usual staples such as casino games and a traditional dance floor. An apparent fan-favorite, the silent disco had a line out the door nearly the entire night. 

“I think silent disco is definitely a lot of fun,” Ziegler said. “They’ve got different music, everyone’s chilling, and it’s funny. You take off your headphones and it’s [completely] silent.”

No matter what activity students chose to take part in, the Homecoming dance was able to provide them with an invaluable opportunity to leave behind scholastic stress, and simply have fun with their friends for a night. 

“I think school events like Homecoming are important for Westwood to have because they just keep us motivated,” Curtis said. “I think Westwood can be really really stressful but giving us an outlet, [like Homecoming], reminds us that there is good in the year.”