For decades now, Prom has been held at the end of every school year. The purpose of this event is mainly for upperclassmen to celebrate the end of high school with their friends, but underclassmen can attend if invited. Each year, Prom is organized at a beautiful venue with a fun theme, great food, music and activities. This year’s Prom will be held at the Tech Interactive Museum in San Jose, on Saturday March 29th. The theme is “Out of this world”.
One of the main organizers of this year’s Prom, junior Lucia Behnam said, “It’s a dance, but it’s more than just a dance because it’s a longer dance at a fancier venue where everyone can hang out, eat, and overall have a lot of fun”.
Senior Veronica Solorzano said she’s excited for the theme, “but I’m mostly excited to just dress up and have fun with my friends.” Prom is important to her because as a senior it’s her “last chance to live [her] high school life”.
Of course, not everyone can or wants to go. Junior Baktash Azizi isn’t going to Prom this year because it’s too expensive in his opinion, and “the [class levels] need to start fundraising a lot more.” Azizi also stated, “For me, a lot of this stuff seems to be [a copy of] what my sister [had] when she went to [West High].” This year’s prom tickets are one hundred seventy-five dollars. This does make some students worry that it may not happen because we don’t know exactly how many people will buy tickets yet. “If it was cancelled…I would be really disappointed and I feel like it would be really unfair that our senior year, the largest class in a long time, [may not] get a prom,” Solorzano stated.
In a small survey I created, although not that many people participated, everyone that did participate had similar answers. Those that are going to Prom said it was because they’re a senior, their friends are going, and/or last year’s prom was a great time. Those that aren’t going or are unsure mostly said the tickets are too expensive. A few of the participants said they didn’t have friends or a partner to go with, or they haven’t gotten asked to go. The last couple of participants said they don’t want to go, don’t have the time, or that they’re going to their partner’s prom.
To the participants that mentioned they don’t have the money for their ticket, Yearbook teacher, Ms. Desiree Vidal hosted a Prom Ticket Competition and might have another one next year. Upperclassmen wrote about what going to prom means to them, one page minimum. Stories needed to be submitted by January 31st, to Ms. Vidal in H14. Congratulations to the five winners: Jordan Ocean Clary, Adrianna Bradford, Naomi Vitoria Lim, Athena Pastran, and Jessie Davis. They each won one free ticket to Prom, announced on February 2nd on Yearbook’s Instagram page, @whsyrbk.
Focusing on the participants that mentioned they don’t have a partner to go with or they haven’t been asked, Prom isn’t just about going with a date. Many students go to this event to have fun with their friends, knowing that after high school they won’t see them as much as they do now.
Prom is an event that many students look forward to, and many students have put a great deal of effort into organizing this event so that it turns out amazing. We hope to see and experience the hard work put into this important event in March. According to Behnam, “…everybody says it’s a night that you remember forever…”
