Although the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over, it was great to see some sense of normalcy return for county students this past weekend as high schoolers began kicking off their homecoming dances and games.

Mars Area School District held a homecoming dance Saturday, and had a good idea for it to take place outside, which is a safe option during a pandemic that also doesn’t require students to wear masks.

Butler Area School District will hold its homecoming dance on Oct. 9 and will require students to wear masks for the indoor event, while Slippery Rock Area School District will have a homecoming game Oct. 8 and a Spirit Week leading up to it.

And Karns City Area School District’s Oct. 9 homecoming dance will be held indoors, but masks will be required and the dance will utilize the entirety of the gym, rather than just half of it as was done in years past. This will allow students to spread out.

There are two pieces of good news in all of this. First, students will be able to enjoy one of the great rites of passage of the high school experience — a homecoming dance or game. After a year and a half of COVID-19, many students have missed out on many of the most anticipated events of the high school experience.

Secondly, the county’s school districts are holding the events in ways that emphasize safety. While it might not be ideal to hold a dance where everyone is masked, it’s much better than the alternatives — no dance at all or one where safety is put at risk.

Most likely, everyone in the county has been inconvenienced during the pandemic, but it’s the eldery and the young who’ve really had something to complain about — the former because of the heightened threats to safety caused by COVID-19 and the latter because of the cancellation of dances, events and sports games as well as remote learning, which removed students from their classrooms and friends.

So, while we encourage every school district that’s planning these rite-of-passage events after a year or so of cancellations to continue to prioritize safety, we’re also very glad to see them occurring once again in the county.

To all of the students taking part in upcoming homecoming dances and games: Make some great memories.

— NCD