With three dances a year, and only two that underclassmen are able to attend (unless invited to prom by a senior), there are not many opportunities in high school for students to attend dances.

Many people enjoy a great dance, so why do so few students attend the Sadie Hawkins dance?

Some people just do not feel like spending so much money on just a few hours, while others would rather save up for prom.

The majority of those who do not attend just assume they should not go due to the lack of people who do.

Starting about two weeks before the dance, I frequently hear people asking others, “Hey, should I go to the Sadie Hawkins dance?”

Nine times out of 10 I hear the other person reply, “Don’t waste your time going. No one goes to that dance.It’s usually really boring.”

This reply influences many students not to attend the dance, and the assumption that no one is going makes the dance less exciting.

It causes people not to go, including sophomore Grace Hoffman.

“I just don’t go because a lot of my friends do not go, usually due to hearing about how no one else is going,” Hoffman said. “If more people went, I would consider going.”

In my opinion, if everyone stopped saying no one attended this dance, everyone would start going again.

It is not as talked about as the homecoming dance, but that does not mean it has to be any less exciting.

Sure there is no parade or big game the night before, but it still can be a lot of fun.

Just because some students do not like the dance, it does not mean that nobody likes it.

Sure the dance may not be fun for everyone, but why miss the dance because of someone else’s negative opinion of it?

I encourage everyone to make their own experiences and form their own opinions.

Why let the fear of someone else’s opinion stop you from having a good time?

What also keeps people from attending the Sadie Hawkins dance is the general idea that the girls are the ones to ask the boys to go with them.

As a girl, I know that idea can be terrifying.

Girls may think, “What if they say no? What if they embarrass me when I ask? What if I am tragically rejected in front of the whole school?”

These are all possible questions that run through a girl’s head when thinking about asking someone to go.

Unless girls have a boyfriend, like senior Shelby Cantrell, they do not always feel comfortable asking someone.

“Now that I have a boyfriend, I will be attending the dance, but if I did not, I probably would not go this year,” Cantrell said.

But these negative questions should not limit anyone’s ability to ask someone to be their date.

Of course asking someone is scary, especially when you do not know what their answer is going to be, but that should not hold anyone back.

Those scared individuals need to be strong, independent women who do not need to be asked, but will step up to the challenge of asking.

No one should have any regrets when looking back on high school, especially if one of those regrets is not having the courage to ask someone to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

Junior Madison Teague wishes she went to the Sadie Hawkins dance her freshman year.

“I was afraid that if I asked someone they would say no,” Teague said. “I let my fear hold me back, but ever since then I decided not to be scared anymore and to just go for it no matter what.”

Everyone should do exactly that — just go for it.