Barrington High School kicks off a new school year with another Homecoming celebration. About 1400 students attended the dance, surprising student council sponsors Lisa Nardiello and Angela Concha, who led student council students to plan the dance.

“Last year was our first year after Covid and without masks. So we had closer to 1700 last year. In the past we’ve had 1100 or 1200. And there’s been more people in the school, so actually we’ve gotten more.”

This dance was especially different in terms of decorations and entertainment.

“We hired a DJ who included much more in his package. He did things like the disco ball and cannons,” Nardiello said.

Disco balls and cannons were certainly a unique element to the traditional dance, allowing for a new experience for freshmen. With a change in the DJ’s package, there was also a change in the traffic flow in and out of the dance.

“Getting the kids this year was a lot quicker than what we’ve done in the past. There’s always been a huge traffic jam at the front, and it flowed a lot better,” Concha said.

While the new additions to Homecoming largely received positive feedback from students, fire alarms caused a few minor setbacks.

“There were some things the DJ could’ve done with the fog machine that we weren’t allowed to do because we would have to bypass the fire alarms,” Concha said.

Every year provides something different in the Homecoming dance, and it seems that 2023 Homecoming is continuing that tradition for years to come.