The official DGS homecoming theme for this year is Cosmic Glow Gala. The dance will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28 in the fieldhouse from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. All students are required to bring a physical school ID to enter the dance.

Ticket sales will begin on Sept. 23 and will end on Sept. 28. After that they will be sold at the price of $35 using the FiveStar link or $40 cash at the door for DGS students only. DGS students must fill out guest forms by Sept. 18, and approved guests must purchase their tickets through the FiveStar link, as well.

Student activities director Jennifer Martinez plans and works closely with the homecoming committee, which includes Kevin Ahrens, Jamie Trent and Sean Lovelace to ensure the process runs smoothly.

“I wouldn’t be able to do homecoming without them,” Martinez said.

On Aug. 22, DGS collectively received an updated announcement, with the latest results. The theme “Black Tie Fancy” was in the lead with 349 votes and in second came “Cosmic Glow Party” with 235 votes. By the end of the voting period, the numbers were so close that the committee, Martinez and surveyed students agreed to combine the two themes.

While Martinez works closely with her committee, she also spends a great deal of time involving students in the process. The goal of homecoming week is to engage the student body and cater to the majority of the population.

“[We tried] to incorporate different perspectives so that we get more of a pulse on the school. Homecoming shouldn’t belong to one student group. Homecoming should belong to everybody,” Martinez said.

Senior Kim Torres voted for the “LaLa Land” theme. When Torres heard word that the top two themes were to be combined, she felt disappointed.

“I was looking forward to the true result. The tie made me feel like my vote didn’t matter,” Torres said.

In years past, students and staff have voted for specific themes like Barbie and Stranger Things. This year’s theme takes a different direction as it aims to focus on creativity.

“It’s not tied to one single thing. It’s just being able to have fun, dress up and it’s not connected to something that you’ve had to maybe have watched to feel connected to,” Martinez said.

As the two themes are joined, so is the decor. From a red carpet, all the way, to a light show given by the DJ. Students can also expect light-up letters saying “Let’s Glow” as a photo backdrop similar to last year.

Junior Nate Lauer has attended homecoming since his freshman year and is excited for a theme that doesn’t relate to a movie or TV show.

“With the Barbie theme, there’s not much you can do with it, decorations-wise. So with this one, I feel like it’ll be pretty fun. You can have all the glow stuff everywhere, especially once it gets dark,” Lauer said.

Involving every single student is crucial in the planning and execution of a school-sponsored event. Attempting to get each student’s vote can be a difficult task for anyone to do. However, the purpose of joining the two themes was to engage the majority of the student body.

“By combining the two, it allows us to celebrate everyone’s ideas and desires of what they wanted…We have almost 3000 students, and I think that every single time we have something that impacts the entire student body, we should have 3000 votes,” Martinez said.

With assistance from multiple student organizations, the survey for the homecoming theme had a greater voting engagement than in the past.

“There’s the PA announcements but it helps when student groups like Blueprint or sports teams and other clubs are pushing the conversation to remind everybody to vote. Because it doesn’t matter what one person does in this building; this is the school that [the dance] belongs to — all of us and the students,” Martinez said. “I want everyone to show up, South has a really strong homecoming dance, and I want it to stay that way this year and for years to come. So let’s make it the best Glow Gala.”

Read the article and watch the video about homecoming door decorating here.