Each year, the junior class is given the responsibility to create a magical atmosphere for prom. With a similar process to previous years, junior class sponsor Ginger Eikmeier started by giving the juniors prom magazines in order to choose a theme and decorations. Unfortunately, this year, the similar process took a turn as challenges arose both within the committee and on the outside.
“It was a very long process because we couldn’t really decide on anything as a class,” junior Molly Besch said.
Despite originally having conflicting views on what theme to pick, the junior class ended up going with a floral theme and chose the name “A Night In Bloom.” This was not the only issue that needed to be resolved, though, as Eikmeier got an email after ordering the main centerpiece they had chosen for the floor, saying that it wouldn’t arrive until the end of April—but prom was scheduled for April 5.
“We needed to come up with something else,” Eikmeier said. “All of the other variations that the juniors liked for that centerpiece from the prom company used the same piece that was not going to be in until the end of April.”
To find another option, Eikmeier began searching Etsy, a site she had never used for prom before, and they were able to find a replacement centerpiece.
“I knew they had crafty things, and I found some different floral arches, and I showed the juniors some options,” Eikmeier said. “To be honest, it looked amazing…At the end of the day, it was a success, even though we had that little bit of stress.”
To add onto the stress, more scheduling conflicts arose in the wake of an exceeding amount of time taken off for snow days. As a result, juniors weren’t able to take the entire school day off on Friday to spend decorating the elementary gym.
“We had a very limited amount of time to decorate as in past years where they had a full day to decorate,” junior Mylee Tichota said. “On Friday before prom, we only had a half day to work, so we knew we had to work fast.”
Friday, although the main day, was not the only day to decorate. Throughout the week, juniors were able to decorate after school in order to get a jump start, minus another scheduling conflict of a home track meet. Despite these issues, the juniors were able to finish decorating at a reasonable time.
“Decorating was actually really fun,” Besch said. “We got done way earlier than we thought we were going to, and it was really fun just sitting there with the class and decorating.”
While the decorations were an important part of tying the dance together, students also thought that the overall atmosphere was more entertaining than in years past. Dancing seemed to be an all-around enjoyment for students this year, especially with the continuation of line dances.
“Since we did the dance lessons, everyone kind of knew and everyone could kind of participate,” Tichota said. “It’s fun to see everyone line dancing together.”
After dancing the night away, and three students winning 50-100 dollars on a drawing for staying at the dance until certain times, students attended the Italian-themed post prom at the high school. The doors opened at 11:30 with various new and returning activities—from Wii Sports to Cash Cab—and the night ended with a hypnotist and gifts.
“[It was nice] kind of de-escalating from all the hype of prom,” senior Tyler Witt said. “You know, eating good food. There’s desserts, and then you get rewards afterwards.”
Witt, along with 15 other students, was also able to be more involved by getting hypnotized at the end of the night.
“It was a weird experience. It was almost like you were being forced to do it, but you felt like you could do other things…like you could break it,” Witt said.
Ultimately, both prom and post prom were a success for many parties despite many obstacles that needed maneuvering throughout the process.
“At the end of the night, it was the largest crowd of students still on the dance floor at 11 p.m. and, for me, that’s really the biggest win,” Eikmeier said. “It meant that everybody was having fun being at the dance, which should be the centerpiece of the night.”
