“

“I think it is better than being cancelled all together.

— Elle Steele

Students walk up and wait in line. They turn in their ticket and walk in and begin to look around. There are kids everywhere, food, and lights shining around. They immediately smile, since this is the first high school dance since COVID happened. Kids pull their friends out on the dance floor as they shout, “Let’s go!”. Osceola Fundamental, for the first year since COVID hit, is having a dance. But the question is whether or not it should be occurring in light of knowing that COVID is still out there. “I agree with having an in-person winter formal this year because we can dress up and go with friends” said Loren Lijewski, 10th grade. This is how most students seem to feel because of how long it has been since they have gotten to go to a dance and dress up. Some students just want to experience a high school dance, so COVID doesn’t seem to turn their heads. Elle Steele, 9th grade, said “I think it is better than being cancelled all together.” In the past year, Homecoming dances were being cancelled at schools around the country due to the COVID cases starting to rise. Students missed the dances, but some still question if it should be in person because of COVID. As well as, the new variants still prominent. Even though Osceola is face to face, there are still hundreds of counties around the country that still have not been able to come back to school in person, let alone having a school dance at all. “I think we should have a formal, but with some regulations. Maybe students should be vaccinated, or if they are not, then they should be required to wear a mask. I also think that there should be an outside portion as well,” explained one student. This year, there was going to be an outside portion, so students could hang out there if they would rather. “I agree with having a winter formal this year because there will be an outside area, so if some students do not feel comfortable, then they can go outside,” said Elle. Since there is going to be an outside area this year, students might feel more comfortable with the idea of the dance being in person this year. Although the new omicron variant has caused over one million new cases in the nation according to CNN, students still seem to want the winter formal to go on. This is the first time in 2 years Osceola has had a school dance, so most students are excited to either have their first dance, or go to another one because of how long it has been.