Editor’s Note: Funds allocated toward homecoming will cover the dance and spirit week. 

In an effort to increase the number of homecoming game and dance attendees, the El Camino College Inter-Club Council has raised its budget for the event to $4,500, approximately a 12% boost from last year, officials said.

“Every year we are trying to make it into a bigger event that everyone can participate in,” Associated Students Organization (ASO) President and Inter-Club Council (ICC) Secretary Urwa Kainat said. “This year I think it’s going to be a much larger event, we expect a bigger crowd.”

Members of the ICC, an organization on campus made up of representatives from clubs including ECC Salsa Club and Zine Club, whose function is to support the community-based activities and projects of campus clubs, have set the homecoming dance for Thursday, Nov. 14.

ICC Director of Diversity Giancarlo Fernandez said the homecoming dance had approximately 250 people in attendance last year, approximately a 63% increase from the previous year.

Over the last three years, the number of people attending the homecoming dance has increased by more than 156%.

This year, the ICC expects numbers to increase, Kainat said.

“The numbers are growing because ICC is putting more money into the events,” Kainat said. “We are working a lot harder to make sure we know what students want so [ICC representatives] are very meticulous in planning and thinking about what students actually want.”

The ICC is also funded by ASO, ECC’s student government, Kainat said.

Following a summer where the budget of programs funded by ASO were cut by 10%, ICC was allocated an extra $6,000 because they proposed good plans to ASO that showed the money was being put to good use, Kainat said.

Kainat said that the ICC spent most of the money allocated to its budget last year putting on club events, so it was fair to give them a larger budget to continue to do so.

With the dance less than a month away, only the date and the $2 ticket prices for non-ASO sticker holders have been confirmed, Kainat said.

Fernandez said he did not have a lot of details about the dance yet but thought it was important for students to go to a dance like this to support the Warriors football team at its homecoming game Saturday, Nov. 16, at Murdock Stadium.

The ECC men’s football team will play Cerritos College for the Milk Can Trophy, an award that goes out to the winner of the rivalry game between the Warriors and Falcons since 1962.

“It’s a good opportunity to have school spirit,” Fernandez said. “Most students go to class and go home but it’s also a good opportunity to network and find a community.”

Leading up to the dance, ICC and ASO will be working together to put on a spirit week at ECC starting Tuesday, Nov. 12.

While the themes are not set, some ideas that have been brought up at an ICC meeting on Monday, Oct. 14 are the wearing fashion from the 60s, 70s, 80s.

Throughout the week, students will also have the opportunity to vote for a homecoming king and queen at a nomination booth set up on campus, Kainat said.

While tickets for the homecoming dance are not available to the general public yet, Kainat said she hopes all the details regarding location, food, entertainment, attire, theme and time will be worked out soon.

“Students can benefit from this because it allows them to see El Camino as something fun,” Kainat added. “I know it’s commonly done in high school but [El Camino] is also a transition from high school to a four year, so it’s a good transition.”

ECC student Sarah Yoshimura, undecided major, said she heard there was going to be a homecoming dance but was not interested in going this year.

“I like the option of going to a dance here,” Yoshimura said “[But] I do believe the money could be spent elsewhere.”

In a quick campus survey of 228 students conducted by The Union, 14% of students sampled said they would be attending this year’s homecoming dance, while 86% did not know ECC held a dance.

Leading up to the event-filled month of November, the ICC will also be presenting a Halloween-themed Club Mixer Wednesday, Oct. 30 for club representatives and members.

This is a developing story, for updated information visit eccunion.com

Editor’s Note: Funds allocated toward homecoming will cover the dance and spirit week.