Prom committee plans prom with COVID restrictions
Photo submitted by Laurie Hansen
Members of the prom committee meet on March 10. Because of the pandemic, planning has become more difficult than in years past, but those involved have remained determined to give students a memorable prom.
March 17, 2021
For the American high schooler, prom is a highly anticipated event. Dressing up, spending time with friends and dancing the night away can be the highlight of many teenagers’ high school careers. Sadly, because of the ongoing pandemic, many high schools have had to cancel their proms for the safety of students. Despite this grim outlook, the Student Council has decided to go forward withholding its annual prom.
Planning the event has not been easy. The prom committee had to make sure the usual CDC-recommended safety requirements are met, while still planning an event that will be fun and memorable for students. These requirements include masks, social distancing and others that are not typically thought about at a school dance.
Senior and member of the prom committee Mira Torzewski explained how it was difficult to work around the COVID restrictions, but “I think it is a fun thing and it is nice to have a light at the end of the tunnel” when describing how she is looking forward to prom.
It is not just the members of the prom committee who have had to deal with planning challenges. The advisor’s job is stressful enough with having to deal with things like recruiting members and managing the budget, now throw in a bunch of new, constantly changing rules.
I know some people are upset about it or unhappy but for the most part I think the community wants us to have a somewhat normal prom, so that’s what we’re trying to do, even though it does not check everybody’s boxes…
— Dusty Dennis
“It is stressful, I will be honest,” prom committee advisor Dusty Dennis said. “We have rules that we have to follow and if we don’t follow those rules, the state government gets involved and they get mad and we get fined and all this kind of crazy stuff.”
Not everyone in the school community is thrilled about the idea of holding prom this year. Parents, staff and students alike are skeptical about how the event will retain its safety standards and if now is the right time to be holding a dance. After all, school dances involve crowds of people close together and that can be concerning given the current circumstances.
Torzewski explained that members of the community are either way for it or way against it, and that the planning committee has been hard at work to make sure safety requirements will be followed.
“I know some people are upset about it or unhappy but for the most part I think the community wants us to have a somewhat normal prom, so that’s what we’re trying to do, even though it does not check everybody’s boxes,” Dennis added.
Prom is tentatively scheduled for June 11 and as anticipation continues to build, so does the determination of those students who have worked hard over the past few months to bring a sense of normalcy back to the school community.
“We just want to give people the senior year they have had taken away from them, and we are really trying our best,” Torzewski said.
