On April 17, juniors and seniors headed to SVN West in San Francisco to attend Aragon’s annual Prom from 7-10 p.m. Following the theme of Midnight Masquerade, some students donned masks and dark or silver-colored outfits.
A three floor venue, SVN West marked a new space for students, as last year’s prom was at the InterContinental in San Francisco. There were photo booths and a coat check on the first floor, the dance floor and food were located on the second floor and students could play mini golf on the rooftop. Masks were laid out on tables and balloons decorated the venue in accordance with the theme.
Leadership adviser Lindsay Bussey discussed why the venue was changed.
“We’ve been at [the San Francisco Design Center] for ages, but there was a request to move prom from Friday to Saturday, so we obliged [and] that required us to move [locations],” Bussey said. “Last year we were at the InterContinental Hotel [and] we were planning on going back there, [but] they were going to upcharge us by $20,000 more than what we paid last year.”
This year’s prom cost $100 for each student, sold throughout the month of March and the first few weeks of April. Some students found the expense to be costly. Although last year’s prom also cost $100, previous years had cheaper prices, with a range of $60-85.
“Students have to realize that [the price] includes the venue, all of your food,” Bussey said. “The last two years we’ve had an Italian buffet, the [photo booth], [a] DJ, all of the games and activities. So it’s really an all inclusive price. When you get [to the venue], you do not have to shell out money for anything else … We do make every effort possible to keep our [pricing for] prom tickets as low as possible, and sometimes we have to move the location to make sure that we don’t have to roll the cost over to students.”Students had mixed opinions about the venue.
“I [enjoyed] the venue,” said senior Ethan Guo. “Having three floors gives me more space to walk around [and] I like not jumping around in one place.”
However, senior Sathini Senthilkumar took issue with the rooftop part of the venue.
“For the people who didn’t get to go to the rooftop initially, it was kind of disappointing for them because they didn’t get to do [mini golf] later [once it got dark],” Senthilkumar said. “They could have had better lighting [on] the rooftop, because it wasn’t that bright.”
Senior Maria Medina Dussan appreciated some aspects of the venue but felt there was room for improvement at prom.
“Because the venue is so big and open, it feels very empty and there’s not as many activities,” Dussan said. ”[On] the dance floor, because it’s so big, people aren’t really encouraged to dance, but the DJ is really good.”
Senior Estela Valero had a different perspective, explaining concerns with the event.
“They need some more lighting in [the dance area],” Valero said. “[But] it’s a little bit too [bright] in the main hallways and outside downstairs. Also the DJ, [is the] same DJ from all the other years … He doesn’t play the best music.”
During the event, students could choose from a variety of food, with pasta, salad and desserts being offered. Students had mixed reactions regarding the quality of the food, however.
“[The food] was subpar,” Guo said. “The pasta was not al dente, the salad was very lackluster, [but] the desserts were fine.”
Junior Ollie Amaro expressed a different opinion, enjoying the different variety of food.
“The food’s amazing,” Amaro said. “I love the pasta, the desserts are great as well.”
Many students questioned why tiramisu, one of the foods advertised as part of the buffet on the Canvas Dashboard, was missing. The lack of allergy warning labels for food items also was questioned, especially by an online petition about Prom posted by an Instagram account called @prom.petition. Bussey addressed the concerns by noting the discrepancy in communication between SVN West and the Aragon leadership team.
“We did check with [SVN West about] allergens and cross contamination,” said Bussey. “The only thing that we were told that was an issue was going to be the bread that had sesame seeds on it. We were told nothing else is going to be an issue. We started realizing the tiramisu was an issue when people with nut sensitivities started having reactions, and then immediately we pulled the tiramisu from the options for that night.”
As the night came to an end, seniors reflected on their last high school dance.
“It was kind of crazy towards the end, just thinking about how we only have a few weeks left before we graduate,” Senthilkumar said. “I feel like everything is more enjoyable when you find out that it’s your last one [and] it was pretty special to me.”
The next dance, Homecoming, is expected to be held on Sept. 26
