A prom. For some, it’s the event you look back at twenty years later as your fondest high school memory. For others, it’s the night you regret the most. For a select few, it’s a night you won’t recall ever happening. But, for many MHS students, this event doesn’t happen just once. You can go to two proms for the price of…roughly $200. Don’t worry, that money covers your food, DJ, venue, and transportation (to junior prom only). “Prom” doesn’t just connote the dance itself, however. It entails pre-prom pictures, and for the seniors, it includes after-prom celebrations that span one to three days in beach and mountain homes equipped with hot tubs and lots of bedrooms.
The expenses certainly don’t end at the purchase of a ticket. You can’t forget the dress or tux, the hair and makeup, the party bus or limo, the after-prom house rental, and the food and drink to stock the after-prom house for the weekend. Can’t you think of more frivolous things to spend your money on? Does it really make sense to celebrate in such an extravagant manner two times in four years?
It’s not just money that’s spent, there’s energy that goes into it too. Students get distracted booking party buses to take them to the house that they have rented for three days. Parents organize “parent meetings” where they discuss the actions of their children on the fateful prom night. They debate if a parent should stay in the town nearby in case of an emergency. Some even quarrel about whether or not their children should be allowed to drive to the after-prom house. These are all reasonable concerns, but why so much nervous energy about a high school event where students are supposed to have a great time?
We, as a school community, should think about cutting back on proms. In addition to eliminating Junior Prom, much of the fluff from Senior Prom should be stripped away. This would limit not only the amount of money spent by parents and students, but also the amount of “prama” (prom drama) experienced by the community. In the end, don’t we want to look back twenty years from now and remember this one night as out fondest high school memory?
