A $14,000 budget.
For decorations, flowers, food, drinks, invitations, a DJ, a tiara, a crown and the Ritz Charles.
The Prom Committee, 12 junior girls, is responsible for making all decisions concerning Prom while keeping costs within the budget.
“It is all on us to decide everything,” member, junior Jackie Dennis said. “It is your last hurrah of high school. Everyone always talks about their senior Prom.”
The committee first met in October to begin the planning process.
In past years, the committee didn’t begin meetings until second semester. However, since this was committee sponsor Jessica Janish’s first year, she said she wanted to begin the process earlier.
The group typically gathered once per week before Spring Break, but meets more frequently as Prom approaches. The dance will be on April 16.
The group narrowed the theme down to three choices and voted; “A Night in the Spotlight,” an old Hollywood theme, won.
“These girls have worked really, really well at compromising and working with each other,” Janish said. “But, anytime you have that many kids together with that many ideas, sometimes it’s hard.”
Each member brought suggestions for brainstorming decorations.
Prom Committee then sketched ideas of what it wanted the invitations to look like and met with a decorator to choose decorations for the event.
Since it’s her first year, Janish said she doesn’t know what to expect, but she feels very happy with how things are turning out so far.
“These girls have worked really hard and have put their heart and soul into it,” she said. “It is very important to them that people enjoy it. Everyone owes them a lot because they have put a lot of hard work into this.”
Dennis said not having any guys on the committee can affect the outcome of Prom, but they still try to incorporate masculine elements into their plans.
“Guys are not like girls; there are a select few that like to design things,” Dennis said. “[Prom] is all more girly things that most guys just aren’t into. Prom is not going to be like a football game where we have guy decorations; it is going to be more classy.”
Janish said it would be nice to get the guy’s perspective on Prom, but no males attended any of the meetings after the announcement was made.
“Girls seem to find Prom to be more of a life event than guys do,” she said. “So I think the reason we don’t have any guys represented is because they don’t think of Prom as big of a moment in their lives as the girls do.”
While Student Council normally organizes the other school dances, StuCo sponsor Mark Mosier said Prom has always been organized by a separate committee.
“It is traditional, in most high schools, for the junior class [to plan Prom], as sort of a goodbye recognition of the senior class,” Mosier said. “So traditionally, Prom has been a junior/senior Prom. It is the one social event that Student Council, in the whole time I have been here, has never been a part of.”
Janish said the purpose of the committee is to organize the many details for the large event.
“I honestly could have not done this by myself,” she said. “Also, I think it is important to get input from the students because this activity is for the kids. I believe the more input you get from the kids, the more we will have a product that everyone is going to enjoy. They should be the ones who get to decide what would make it a good Prom.”
Dennis said the hardest parts of being on the committee are making decisions and staying on budget.
She said the budget affects many of the choices the group makes.
“If we had more money, we could make it even better, but we are going to make it work,” she said. “We are not going to have the most expensive fabric, but we are going to have fabric that looks the same. It is not going to be that obvious.”
Prom Committee is primarily funded through donations from the Parent Teacher Organization and the junior class parents. They also rely on ticket sales.
Prom costs $25 per ticket for juniors.
Seniors may attend for free as long as they pick up their own ticket during lunch.
For any outside dates or underclassmen, the ticket is $30.
Tickets will cost $35 at the door.
“It takes a lot more money to make it,” Dennis said. “We have to pay the decorator. We don’t need a DJ, but we are going to have one. We don’t need food and drinks there, but we are going to have them. We don’t need over-the-top decorations, but we are going to have them.”
The money made at Prom this year will go toward next year’s Prom and the junior class’ senior picnic.
Janish said the exciting aspect of planning Prom is how passionate the committee is about making sure the event is something that students can enjoy.
“It is very important to these girls that they make sure everybody has a good time,” Janish said. “They understand that Prom is something that people will remember forever.”
