A prom like never before took place on April 27.
From being at a new venue, tornado warning, being moved back to the school last second, and fire alarms – this prom was full of ups and downs.
“Our first goal was to address the complaints that we were given the previous years – and the biggest one was having (prom) at the high school,” said junior Ellison Beran, a member of the prom committee.
For the first time since 2020, Prom was planned to take place at a venue outside of the high school – the Wave.
“We were searching everywhere – it was pretty late because usually when you want to book a venue for prom weekend around a year before – and so it was pretty hard finding the venue,” Beran said. “We contacted the Wave and they were really down for it. They were ready – it was actually their first ever prom they were ever going to have there, so that was really exciting.”
The new venue influenced the unique theme for prom as well.
“We were relying a lot on the venue to have all of the aspects of the theme, so we made sure the theme matched the venue, which is ‘city’. It was in downtown, it was in the middle of the city, it had a lot of infrastructure and glass windows so it was kind of related to that – and that’s how we decided the theme (City of Lights) and at the Wave,” Beran said.
However, unexpected weather came around the corner on the week of prom – forcing administration to move it back to the high school.
“We (the prom committee) found out at the same time as everyone else did, and so did, I believe, our sponsors,” Beran said. “We were only given a couple hours notice to help try to fix the decorations and try to fit it into the high school.”
Even with the unexpected transition, prom began as expected, and everything went smoothly – that was until 30-minutes later, when a new disruption occurred.
I was at the very front right by the DJ when it happened, and I heard the fire alarm and I was like ‘That has to be a part of the DJ right?’ – but it was not,” Beran said.
Students were evacuated out of the building as fire alarms blared and fire trucks rushed to the school.
“We were inside for like five minutes and then immediately got booted,” junior Will Beugelsdyk said.
Rumors rang around the crowded sidewalk – some said that someone pulled the fire alarm, others said it was a real fire. The rumors quickly got shut down.
“We do believe that it was the fog machines that the DJ brought and not someone just tapping it or pulling it,” Beran said.
After the “all clear” was given, students shuffled back into the school – disappointed in their lost time.
The DJ soon declared the dance was extended an extra 30 minutes. The students cheered – however most still left around 10 P.M.Most were able to laugh about the craziness of prom – as this was nothing like before.
Photos from prom can be seen here:
