Fossil Ridge High School administrators and teachers have decided to move away from traditional homecoming and prom royalty celebrations for the 2023-24 school year.
In an effort to create a more inclusive environment for all students, the Leadership Committee, along with the support of the administration team, is creating new practices to celebrate students in a way that makes everybody feel involved and celebrated.
“We don’t want to take an opportunity to celebrate students away without putting something else in its place,” says Fossil Ridge principal Mark Barry.
This pattern of shifting away from regular celebrations has spread throughout Fort Collins.
Rocky Mountain High School implemented criteria for the voting process to remove the popularity aspect of royalty. These criteria include things like character traits and academic accomplishments. This promotes the idea of rewarding students for their work ethic and kindness, rather than choosing from every member of your class.
“Adding some sort of criteria validates the voting process to make sure it represents the entire student body,” says Barry.
To ensure that the decisions of administration align with the desires of the students, the Leadership Committee has constructed a feedback form that all students can fill out. This form has also been sent to students’ email.
“We want to create a feedback form that gives students a platform to suggest new ways to celebrate their peers,” said Leadership teacher Kristyn Degi.
It is clear that homecoming and prom royalty are not a priority in the minds of most Fossil Ridge students. In 2022 only 14% of students voted for homecoming court.
“I think it’s (homecoming and prom royalty) a popularity contest,” a Fossil Ridge student wrote on an anonymous survey of student attitudes on the proposed changes. “It’s unnecessary to put students above others due to popularity.”
But royalty is still important to some students. There are many differing opinions as to why royalty should be kept around, but the most consistent reason was that it is tradition.
“I feel like it’s a tradition to have homecoming court so I think they should have kept it, and it was disappointing to not see it this year,” said one Fossil Ridge student.
While some students disagree with the school’s decision, others see the sense in moving away from tradition.
“I don’t think it’s important to have homecoming and prom royalty because everyone is equal,” said a freshman at Fossil Ridge. “We can celebrate the students better by supporting the middle-man, not just the 1% poster children.”
In preparation for the upcoming dance, the prom committee has been putting all of its efforts into making the experience as good for everybody as possible.
Ms. Grande, an English teacher and prom sponsor at Fossil Ridge, has been asking staff members and students to share their positive prom experiences so that she can implement these things into this year’s dance.
If you have any questions or ideas about homecoming or prom, please share your feedback. Either fill out this survey or fill the one that was sent to your email by the Leadership Committee.
