Prom is an event that students look forward to attending during their later high school years, with only juniors and seniors being able to attend.
Prom is being held at Villa Milano, in Columbus, where it has been held in previous years. The doors open at 6:45 p.m. and students must stay until 9:30 p.m., with the event running from 7-10 p.m. Juniors and seniors were also allowed to purchase a guest ticket for a person who is a junior or senior from another school or one year out of high school.
Tickets cost $60 and students must bring their ticket and ID to the door to be able to attend.
This year the prom theme is “Let’s Groove Tonight,” which features a disco/70s inspired dance, with decorations and music fitting the theme.
Senior Marissa Thomas, a member of Student Council, is a part of the activities committee for prom.
“We work on getting the stuff for court, like king and queen and getting the crowns ordered,” Thomas said. “We work on the dance playlists a little bit, we work on the menu and we work on any other activities.”
The dinner menu consists of chicken marsala, vegetarian lasagna, prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and cheesecake for dessert. The meal is served buffet style with students selecting what they would like to eat then bringing it back to their table.
For the process of planning prom, the first thing that the Student Council creates is the theme. They suggest themes and then sort through them to see which one they like the best. Then they are split into committees which consist of activities, tickets and advertising, spirit week and decorating committees.
Each committee has different responsibilities, Thomas said. For example, the committee on decorations plans what the venue will look like, and the tickets and advertising committee helps to get the word out on all of the information regarding prom.
“We had to design the tickets and we have to label each ticket and deliver them to their first period class,” said senior Student Council member Kelly Schafer, who is on the ticket and advertising committee.
Some of the biggest challenges of planning prom are the differing opinions and levels of commitment.
“There’s quite a lot of differing opinions, especially for theme,” Schafer said. “But it’s just a lot of collaborating and listening to what the juniors and seniors want since it’s for them … And the time commitment, making sure you’re able to show up.”
Another problem with prom is with ticket purchases.
“The biggest problem is people saying, ‘Oh, I forgot to get my ticket’ and we’ve already done a reservation with the venue and can’t add to that and that’s always disheartening because I have to say no, because there’s only so many seats available, they have to order food and get everything ready, and that’s why there is a deadline on it,” Student Council adviser Joanne Meyer said.
Overall prom is a fun night with many activities and socialization with friends.
“We have some pretty cool stuff planned this year, and I think that everybody’s going to have a lot of fun,” Meyer said.