When students think about their past homecoming experiences, they might remember getting ready with friends, taking pictures and going to after parties rather than the dance itself.

Hoping to change that, the SGA made many changes for the dance this year, including the addition of a homecoming ask contest, food trucks with free food, student bands and popcorn machines to attract more students and increase participation at the school dance.

“We understand tradition is for upperclassman and sophomores to go to the memorials in D.C., but hopefully in a couple years we can make the dance the main big event of the night,” student body treasurer junior Pablo Rothschild said.

The SGA also decided to remove the homecoming court. Their desire to be accepting of all Whitman students, regardless of gender identification or social status, fueled the decision.

“The current format wasn’t the most accepting,” student body president Ari Gutman said. “I don’t think it was so much that it wasn’t accepting to different genders, it just wasn’t accepting to all the students. That was the main message we’re trying to send.”

Senior leadership member Kieran Kindig agrees that the homecoming court’s significance has become ambiguous and that changes were necessary.

“In times past, it’s just been a popularity contest,” Kindig said. “From my point of view it seemed very cliquey and it was very hard for students to get behind it.”

Whitman’s homecoming dance will be held Oct. 8 from 9 to 11 p.m in the Whitman gym. Tickets are currently for sale on the Whitman website; $17 for a single and $30 for a double.