Dancing, snacks, and a magical evening for Beaver Area High School (BAHS) students—homecoming is back!

After a COVID induced cancellation of last year's homecoming the Bobcats were back in action and ready to dance for this year's homecoming September 24.

Spanish teacher Mrs. Rachel Zahn explained that she and Latin teacher Miss Tori Abbondanza decided to help plan and coordinate the homecoming dance.

“There is currently no senior class advisor, so I was talking to Miss A [Abbondanza] and we decided to step in,” Mrs. Zahn explained.

Along with Mrs. Zahn and Miss Abbondanza, the senior class officers, Delaney Young, Larisa May, Nicole Trkula, Elle Ray, and Madison Flaugh, helped with the dance plans and preparation.

A few days before the event, Mrs. Zahn talked about all the hopes and goals for the homecoming dance as well as the planning that goes into creating an enjoyable evening for everyone.

“The hope for homecoming is that the students are able to plan a dance quickly, that they are able to work together with all the vendors, and to pull off some sort of dance that they were envisioning,” Mrs. Zahn stated prior to the dance.

And based on the over 300 tickets sold, things went as planned.

However, unlike traditional gymnasium or cafeteria dances, this year’s homecoming dance was held outdoors on the Pat Tarquinio field at Gypsy Glen Stadium because of COVID concerns. Students were told not to wear any heels that could puncture the turf and students wore semi-formal attire.

“I wore a suit and a silver shirt,” stated freshman Aiden Connelly.

“I wore a white and gold knee length dress with gold shoes and white flip flops to wear on the turf,” said freshman Meghan Boyd.

The weather settled around 65 degrees, and was chilly for many party goers.

“It was chilly when I got there—but once we started dancing I got warmer,” explained sophomore Madeline Boser.

Miss Abbondanza has helped with the homecoming dance for past classes and was primarily responsible for overseeing ticket sales.

Mrs. Zahn helped with lining up vendors to provide refreshments—including 40 pizzas from Pizza Joes and ice cream from Brusters—managing the dates for the dance, as well as answering any questions that students had.

Mrs. Zahn explained that COVID-era dance planning was “a great big challenge. It is very hard to plan a public event and make everyone happy and comfortable.”

All students were required to bring a mask in case weather forced the even inside or could not social distance.

And like any student event, there were complaints about the DJ: junior Delaney Young stated that “The music choice was terrible.”

In addition to the dance, the weekend’s events included honoring the 1981 Bobcat WPIAL football champions as well as the 2020 girls basketball team who also won their WPIAL championship.

The 2021 girls softball team who won the WPIAL championship as well as the PIAA state championship was also honored.

As if that wasn’t enough, the morning after the dance from 8-10 a.m. there was a pancake breakfast benefitting the choir program.

The Bobcat football team played against the Seton LaSalle Rebels for the homecoming game Saturday at 1:30 p.m, with the Student Council doing face painting for an hour before kickoff for those who wanted to really display their school spirit.

The Bobcats won the homecoming football game with the Seton LaSalle Rebels falling 21-7.

There was no homecoming parade this year.

Dance tickets, which were $20, were sold online and during the high school lunches.

Miss Abbondanza and Mrs. Zahn hoped that the students had a wonderful night filled with fun and dancing.

The dance was open to all high school students; however, no one other than seniors could bring outside guests to the dance.