by Meredith Mulhern

The dress. The shoes. The pictures. The dinner. The dance. The after party.

All are important elements of a great homecoming night, but one of the most crucial aspects is the date.

For many STA students, their dates ask them in unique or different ways. This was the case for junior Kristina Coppinger.

Coppinger’s boyfriend, Rockhurst junior Harry Oest, planned how he was asking her with Coppinger’s mom.

“My mom took me to Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Coppinger said. “When I got home, [Oest] was laying on the ground outlined in chalk. Next to

him it said, ‘Kristina, I’ve been dying to ask you to homecoming?’”

Coppinger says she is “super excited” for the upcoming dance and she was surprised when Oest asked her.

“I called [that he was asking me that day] earlier in the day, but I was still surprised nonetheless.” Coppinger said.

However, sophomore Sarah Cozad knew well in advance that her date was asking her.

Rockhurst sophomore Tommy Rasmussen contacted Cozad, who was at sophomore Emily McGannon’s house, telling her to come outside.

“He handed me flowers and just stood there,” Cozad said. “I was like ‘uhhh’ and then a bomb exploded and he said, ‘It would be the bomb if you went to homecoming with me.”

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A friend of Cozad’s had already told her Rasmussen’s plan, but she still enjoyed being asked.

“I’m very excited for homecoming,” Cozad said.

Though both of these proposals are clever, neither are as outlandish as junior Violet Cowdin’s experience.

According to Cowdin, Rockhurst junior Aaron Brown came to Cowdin’s house while loudly playing Beyonce music and throwing bread at Cowdin.

“[Brown] came and danced with a baguette with [junior] Lily Cosgrove, then they threw pieces of sandwich bread at me,” Cowdin said. “Then, on the baguette wrapper, it said ‘be my homecoming date?!’ but it’s all spelled wrong. The reason why he did it is because I have a fake [Instagram] account called @swaggy_breadluvr where I post weird and funny grams under my alias of swaggybreadluvr.”

According to Cowdin, she already knew of Brown’s plans to ask her, but it was still “really, really hilarious.”

All three girls say they look forward to homecoming, but you know who else should be looking forward to homecoming?

A certain STA junior who is dating a certain Rockhurst junior named Matthew Ruskamp should be excited for homecoming as well.

So, what do ya say, Payton Seever? Will you go to Rockhurst homecoming with Matt?

(Sorry we pulled one over on you, but this is a really brilliant idea. You should probably text Matt now).