On Saturday, April 30, students arrived at the Oasis in elegant dresses and tuxedos ready to dance, eat, and hang out with their friends at Prom. The theme was “See the Light” from Tangled. 

“It was really nice seeing everyone dressed up and being able to see people I don’t usually get to see,” Chloe Nixon ‘23 said. “I feel like they could’ve incorporated [the theme] more, but it was cute. I always loved Tangled growing up.” 

Due to the pandemic, the last official Prom was held in 2019. For the seniors in attendance, the dance marked the end of a unique high school experience disrupted by the pandemic. 

“Prom surely felt like a stereotypical high school moment, but it was so fun to catch the differences in the experience of our prom compared to high school movies,” Ellie Damuth ‘22 said. “Since I’m a senior, I wanted to do everything this year that I didn’t ever think I usually would, so Prom was a really good chance to do that.”

But even a pandemic could not dim this milestone experience, as Prom gave students a chance to create their own special memories to remember their high school years. 

“The best moment of the night was when my group and I went downstairs, away from the music,” Damuth said. “There was a piano that people were playing, and we realized that the DJ probably wouldn’t play a slow song. We asked someone to play a slow song on the piano so we could dance with our dates, and it was really sweet. I don’t think anyone else got to do that, which makes it more special.”

At around 10 p.m., attendees gathered near the stage in anticipation of the announcement of Prom royalty. Youngchan Kang ‘22 and Eva De Guelle ‘22 were announced to be the Prom king and Prom queen by Junior Class President Amy Simon ’23.

“Being elected Prom queen felt really amazing,” De Guelle said. “The whole night I felt so loved by the people around me. Being a senior has made winning Prom queen feel a lot more special. It’s like one last hurrah before I graduate.” 

Even before the night of Prom, nominees for Prom royalty had been campaigning for their desired role of Prom queen or king by hanging up posters and spreading the word. 

“I thought it would be funny to run for Prom queen by recreating the Prom scene from Stephen King’s Carrie where Carrie gets blood dumped all over her,” De Guelle said. “It was a spur of the moment thing, and I texted my best friend Aedan Harrod asking him if he wanted to recreate the movie scene and run with me. We met up with our photographer friend, and the next day we were printing posters and hanging them in classrooms.” 

As their high school years came to a close, Prom allowed attendees to bond and reconnect with their friends after the constraints of the pandemic on in-person interactions. 

“I think Prom helped me remember the way things were before, and I also got to see a lot more familiar faces since the event was less masked up than a typical school day,” Baker Tuthill ‘23 said. “It definitely helped make up for some of the lost events of last year.”