With The Mill nearing, students, administrators and parents in the community are all wondering one thing: is this going to be any different from the infamous Coast? Time and time again the school has given us “one more chance” to prove that we can act responsibly at these dances. And time and time again we have failed. Administrators say that The Mill will be the very last chance we have to enjoy a dance like this. How we as a student body behave this Friday will make it or break it for the future of MHS dances. And this warning should not be taken lightly.
The Coast, MHS’s now defunct biannual dance, has a long history of student mishaps. Most recently, 11 students were suspended after last year’s event for being caught by school officials while under the influence. There is no denying that many more students were also intoxicated and were lucky they evaded detection. The punishment for those 11 individuals was for the most part trivial, as angry parents of the students threatened school officials with legal action. The school was intimidated by these vulgar threats and coerced into decreasing the length of the students’ suspensions. The incident was also removed from their permanent records, as if they had done nothing wrong at all. In a firm stance, though, the school vowed never to allow another Coast to take place and, up until recently, was completely opposed to bringing a new dance to life.
However, a subcommittee of Student Council, the Student Events Committee, convinced the administration to help organize a safe and fun event that would be different from the Coast and that students would enjoy but not take advantage of. It was made clear to the SEC that the administration was ambivalent about allowing another dance, and it took a lot of arduous, collaborative work to create a new dance.
Thus spawned The Mill. Among the new changes, the location of the dance was moved to the Palmer Gym as a way to get students to respect their surroundings. It will also be less intimidating for freshmen, who will feel safer attending an event on school property. Student DJ groups will promote achievement and talent, while bringing different grades together on the dance floor.
But is the new and improved Mill really going to bring any substantial change amongst the student body? Are kids really going to show up sober and behave appropriately throughout the night? There is no way to tell for sure, but students of all grades are well informed of the stakes at hand and the consequences for acting inappropriately. We believe that students who abuse this privilege (and yes, having this dance is a privilege) should have proper disciplinary action taken against them. To avoid this predicament, students should know to arrive at the dance in an appropriate and responsible manner. However, we do not deny that some students will choose to attend the dance under the influence, whether that means by “pregaming” beforehand or trying to sneak alcohol inside the gym. This means that students who are caught should take responsibility for their actions and serve their punishments as the school sees fit. This also means that parents whose children are caught should accept their child’s penalty without protest. And last, this means that the school should not waver, for any child, in the severity of their punishments.
It is our hope that every student attending the dance will keep this information in mind and represent our student body well, as this could be the end or the beginning of The Mill.
