On Saturday, September 23, RBHS held the annual Homecoming dance and one of the biggest concerns students had leading up to the event was the music played and its lack of diversity.

Sophomores Seymone Russell and Jenifer Barrios both attended last year’s Homecoming, and had complaints about the music selected.

“There was no variety in the music [last year]. It was basically the same songs that we hear in the hallways. I didn’t like the music personally. I know a lot of people who feel the same way,” said Russell.

Students had some strong opinions about the Homecoming music; however, even though many of them wanted to do something about the problem, they didn’t know exactly how to go about changing it.

The Homecoming music is ultimately monitored by RBHS’s Student Association, which is supervised by Psychology teacher, Angela Ziola. She and senior Max Alvarez, the head of SA’s publicity committee, were able to enlighten students on the music selection process.

“I was in charge of getting the song sheet, taking suggestions [during] the week beforehand. Also, I wrote the daily announcements about Homecoming,” said Alvarez.

“We had two ways this year, we had a suggestion box that they could write songs on, but then we had an actual piece of paper [list] that was out on the table for about a week,” said Ziola. “We took that list and checked it for appropriateness and for variety. We found that there were numerous songs that weren’t appropriate and some that were all from the same musician.”

At the end of the selection process there were only about 17 requested songs that were deemed appropriate. Therefore, it is important for students to list songs that appeal to them as well as songs that meet all of the requirements.

Some students changed their opinions on Homecoming’s music after attending the 2017 dance and believed that the music played improved since 2016’s Homecoming.

“The music this year was definitely better than last year,” said Barrios.

“It was for everybody. It wasn’t just the same music they play in the hallways. It was for many different cultures,” said Russell.

The president of SA’s sophomore class officers, Kathe Pribyl Pierdinock, advises students to utilize Student Association’s suggestion box and sign up sheet to make sure their opinions are recognized.

“I think if the students want to request songs [they should] use the request list. That’s how your voice is heard,” said Pribyl Pierdinock.