By Bridgette Jasinski
Staff Writer
There are about 29,200 days in the average person’s life, with 29,200 nights that will be lived along the way. Who in their right mind decided that of these 29,200, the best will magically commence at age 18 for high schoolers in suburbia?
Prom is a planned evening squeezed into uncomfortable clothes, with bobby pins tearing into the scalp like talons, and blisters from pumps that are taller than safety regulations should allow. There is a foolish expectation that has been set for Prom night.
It is not perfect, it is not like the movies, and it likely will not be the best night out of 29,200 nights. The hype surrounding Prom is largely due to the influence of media stemming from the early 60’s with films like “Prom: It’s a pleasure!”, and popular 80’s films like “Pretty in Pink.”
The expectations set by these films regarding the glamour of prom night often lead to one repeating issue: drama. Prom attendees relish in the fuss over prom night, and Prospect is not exempt from this melodramatic experience.
In the months prior to prom, the irritable drama virus is injected into the water fountain systems and infects innocent prom goers.
Those infected obsess over the Prospect Prom Facebook page, which is devoted to posting dress photos that ensure no girls will be caught dead in the same dress. However, according to AP World teacher Jonathon Kaminsky, who does an annual powerpoint on the woes of prom, the most drama is derived from seating arrangements.
“You’re power ranking your group of friends,” Kaminsky said. “Let’s say you have 14 girls that you have been friends with since elementary school, which two are not going to be at your table?”
If this wasn’t a miserable enough sentiment, the pressure of getting a date can only create excess drama.
For some reason, “Promposals” have gained popularity, sparking a YouTube based frenzy over finding the most extravagant way to ask someone to prom. I can only sympathize with the stress and pressure derived from this for guys. The mentality instilled that there needs to be a musical number, a white horse, and a hot air balloon ride followed by fireworks in order to ask a girl to prom successfully must be dreadful.
“In the super rare occurrence that somebody would actually be asking someone they’re not dating,” said Social Studies teacher Tim Beishir, “they’re not gonna put on this huge spectacle because what if [the girl] says no?”
This misconception is unfortunate, as many girls (myself included) could really care less about such overdone extravagance. Simply asking politely will suffice in most cases, which sadly comes as a surprise.
This great debate regarding a date is mulling in the minds of many juniors and seniors, including senior Vanessa Maxwell who, like many, is debating on attending or not. The only thing holding her back from going is the expectation of having a date.
“The stigma is ‘oh it’s better to go with a date’,” Maxwell said. “I would just have so much more fun with my friends then awkwardly going with someone.”
If that isn’t enough drama, the concern of finding a dress, shoes, hair, makeup, manicure, pedicure, a place to take pictures before prom, plans for post-prom, a limo, and wondering if you’ll get asked, or if you should ask someone builds to the stress.
No wonder there’s an abundance of horror movies based on prom night.
However, if teens learned the laws of simplicity and stopped bombarding the prom process with drama, the evening has significant potential to be highly enjoyable, even if things don’t go quite as planned.
Even when the night turns less than magical, according to Prom Committee Chairman Kristen Ray, Prospect’s Prom Committee and staff are well prepared for any mishaps, blemishes and tragedies. They come equipped with an array of emergency prom night tools — such as a sewing kit in the case of a dress tear, pads, tampons, hair products, and a security member in the bathrooms at all times in order to help with any sort of issues. All of theses precautions are taken in order to diminish the explosion of drama and tears that might otherwise commence.
In addition, there is extra time allotted before dinner and the crowning ceremony to take photographs in case some sort of apocalyptic event engulfed anybody’s pre-prom photo plans.
Prom committee clearly knows what they’re doing because they don’t stop there. After all the students have left for post-prom functions, staff members peruse for lost items, eventually forming a mountain of shoes, jackets, bags, accessories, cameras, etc. The following Monday, students can dig through said mountain of forgotten treasures, and hunt for anything they may have forgotten.
Prom is a seriously planned out event that takes a significant amount of work. If one wants prom to be ruined over a minor setback because the night had to be perfect in their mind, then they will most likely hate prom and ruin their falsies and smokey eye crying over it.
Prom may not be a fairytale, for Kaminsky the limo for his prom never appeared. He and his friends along with their dates didn’t crumble into a melodramatic fit of rage. They simply hopped in their cars and drove to prom. Promblem solved, and they still had a fun evening, limoless or not.
“I guess we could have freaked out or the dates could have whined about how that was the end of their prom experience,” Kaminsky said. “But that’s the bigger lesson, if you are willing to control what you can control and let everything else just figure itself out life is a lot more fun and exciting.”
 
Average Girls Cost: (Single girl, no date)
Dress $90-400+
Shoes: $20-50
Hair $20-75
Nails: $10-35
Ticket: $65
Post-prom: $35
corsage: $25-50
Limo rental chip in: $330 for 8 $380 for 12 so about $30.
Cheapest = about $270
All-out = about $655+
With date = $185 – $640 (factoring out ticket/post-prom cost)
~~The above did not include that some girls additionally get spray-tans, wax, eyebrows done, hair dyed, acrylic nails which can often cost $40+, or getting makeup professionally done, or jewelry plus spending on products to remove post-prom facial blemishes that will result from caked on makeup for an entire evening. ~~
Average Guys Cost: (Guy with date)
Tux rental: $60-150
Shoes (if they need to buy them) $40-150+
Tickets (2): $130
Corsage: $25-50
Limo rental Chip-In: $30
Post-prom (2): $70
Cheapest (with date) = about $310
All-out = about $580