With prom being one of the most anticipated events in high school, many expectations surround the dance. To help prepare, the senior class council has a prom committee in charge of facilitating the planning and organization of prom. Preparations include booking the location, finding the right DJ and designing prom activities.
Senior Amelia Solis Macias describes the expectations surrounding this dance, saying, “Prom is the only dance [students] go to in their senior year or in their entire high school career. It’s just a big American tradition and it’s really important to a high school experience. It’s almost more hyped up [because] there are movies made about prom, but that does not happen for homecoming or formal.”
For many juniors, this will be their first time attending prom. Junior Julia Lee discusses the impact of the prom culture on her expectations, saying, “I am also expecting to see a lot of friends from my other schools that are coming to our prom so [I am] expecting to see people bringing dates from other schools and better food. There’s the culture of the after parties and going to dinner before so that’s also an expectation.”
Similar to prom of past years, this year’s prom will take place at the SF Galleria. Although the senior class prom committee has tried testing other options to host prom, they eventually returned to using the Galleria as the prom location.
The theme for prom, “Enchanted Garden,” was revealed on a Friday video announcement. One of the prom committee co-heads, senior Tiana Pereira, discusses how the prom committee selected this theme, saying, “In the beginning of the year, we had a contest where students could submit their own entries. We decided to make it ‘Enchanted Garden’ so that we can add some more elements to it so when people go to the dance, they can recognize [the prom] is enchanted, mystical, it’s fantastic.”
Last year’s prom committee offered dancing as the only activity, so Macias explains the emphasis on adding activities to the night. She says, “[At] last year’s prom, all you [could] do is dance, and so I think a lot of people were not really a big fan, so this year we’re trying to make it a lot more inclusive.”
ASB Vice President Justin Sell notes that there will be some logistical changes in prom preparation next year. He says, “Next year, Leadership will be taking control of and dance commission will be planning prom. It will no longer be the senior class.”
Aragon Leadership Advisor Melissa Perino explains reasons for this upcoming change of prom organization. She says, “We want to make sure that the seniors and juniors have a lot of say in the theme and the development in the ideas so we’re still going to keep that component of it, but to keep it in the class means … [that] instead of training two different groups of students, it makes a lot more sense to train one group of students. and you can just be informed on what the juniors and seniors want for their prom and things that matter to them.”
The attendance for each dance at Aragon continues to increase. Sell says, “Seven hundred and fifty is our new record for attendance. I would not be surprised if prom is going to have the same success with increasing their ticket sales.”
With new additions and changes being made to the upcoming dance, Leadership and the prom committee seek to create an enjoyable and magical night for students at the much-anticipated dance.
