A masquerade prom

story by Sydney Shain ≫

This year, students were able to enjoy prom at a location other than their school lunchroom. Thanks to the efforts of the junior class, funds were raised to finally make this happen. Last year’s Prom Committee, now all seniors, made efforts to allow prom to be held at another location but the funding wasn’t there to make it possible.

This year’s committee chose the Lawrence Country Club, located in a neighborhood off 6th Street in Lawrence. This venue had a balcony, seating for students to relax and talk, a bar offering refreshments, and multiple places set up for students to dance. Mrs. Pruitt, a prom chaperone for seven years, weighed in on her thoughts about the new location.

“The seating was nice and the atmosphere was good,” said Pruitt. “I liked being about to see the sunset on the balcony. Students seemed to enjoy having different seating options of being outside versus inside.”

However, not everything was perfect for the event.

“Students had a hard time finding a place to dance in a way that was comfortable,” said Pruitt. “This may have impeded students’ time to have a good time at prom.”

A “red carpet” event was still made possible, where pictures could be taken and Mr. Robinson, video teacher here at EHS, could announce couples as they walked between parents and community members. Students were able to park in the neighborhood near the venue, and the changed location made decoration and clean-up vastly different from past years.

“The clean up at the high school usually includes decorations, table cloths and plastic cups being thrown out,” said Pruitt. “This time the only thing that was thrown away was the tealight candles. There was much less waste and less time spent cleaning it.”

As far as numbers goes, it looks like the change in venue drew a little more interest in prom from students.

“This year, we had 239 students attend Prom,” said Mrs. Garrison, prom committee leader. “That’s up 40 to 60 people based on numbers from previous years.”