Curling irons sizzle and pop and straighteners hiss. The whole house smells like burnt hair and fruity sprays. Glitter sparkles in the floor and down the hall. Powder fills the air and the girls start coughing. The coughing comes to a close and giggling takes its place.
Dresses? Check.
Hair? Check.
Nails? Check.
Make-up? Check.
The only thing remaining is the shoes. The door bell rings. The girls look around at each other and screech in delight. The boys are here. They crawl over to the mountain of heels and strap them on. They run-gracefully to the door. They pause, take a breath, and…showtime.
Pictures first. After about a hundred different poses, the limousine honks the horn. It’s go time. The group walks out to the limo and the boys hold the door and let the girls climb in. The drive over to the school is filled with nervous chatter. They pull up to the school gym’s entrance and get out. Each girl takes her guy’s hand as they walk through the door and stare in awe at the sparkling lights and beautiful scenery. At that moment, they all realize this is a night they will never forget.
It’s a girls’ princess moment,” junior Amy Schrader said.
Principal Judy McDonald said Prom is “the Final Dance.”
“It’s a combination of a senior’s career,” McDonald said. “It’s the end of their high school career.”
In the movies, Prom is made up to be a night of pure perfection. It’s majestic and full of mystery. It’s a fairytale come true. Why isn’t it a big deal at Rider?
“We have Celebration here,” teacher Delise Nusser said. “Wichita Falls is the only town that has Celebration.”
Everyone does Prom. It’s every school’s “Big Thing”. Here, we have Celebration. At Old High it’s called Mayfest.
“[Celebration] sets us apart from other schools,” Schrader said.
Celebration is sponsored by a group of parents and paid for by a group of seniors who choose to host the event.
“I believe parents started [Celebration] as a special dance for their kids,” McDonald said. “They tried to re-vive their own celebration of the school year ending.”
Senior Aaron Peloquin feels like it’s the student’s place to make Prom popular.
“Really it’s up to us as a student body to make it big,” Peloquin said. “But not enough people want to make the effort.”
If what Peloquin says is true, that it’s the student’s place to bring Prom up, then what can the student body do to make it work?
“They can hype it up more,” Schrader said. “Everyone hypes Celebration up but not Prom at all. Hype it up more.”
Peloquin said we should get more people interested, so more will want to go.
“Have a bigger fundraiser,” Nusser said. “Also, move [the date of Prom] away from Celebration.”
The real problem seems to be that invitation-only Celebration takes the place of Prom.
“It sounds cooler,” Schrader said. “You feel honored if you get to go. Everyone can go to Prom. It’s not special if everyone can go.”
McDonald said Celebration is a “popularity thing.”
“Prom is unique,” McDonald said. “Everyone’s invited. All you have to do is get a ticket and go to the Prom.”
One of the perks of going to Celebration is that you automatically get invited to Mayfest, if you are a host and vice versa.
“There’s more of a variety of people at Celebration,” Peloquin said.
Nusser said that since Celebration is “invite only” kids view it as the cooler thing to go to.
“It’s the excitement of getting invited,” Nusser said. “And it’s not school related. It’s a big deal.”
Peloquin says Prom might be more popular if there was a lot of food.
“A really cool, out there theme would get people’s attention,” Schrader said. “And big posters. Rider/Old High type posters.”
Themes such as Las Vegas, Under the Sea, Masquerade, and/or Jail house Rock were some options given.
“Under the Sea would be really cool,” McDonald said. “It’d be really pretty and it wouldn’t be that expensive. It’d be fun and not too out there.”
Some people believe that with the changing times, the school shouldn’t sponser the dances anymore.
“We should just let the parents take over,” Nusser said.
For now, though, Prom is still an option. And it’s already time to pick that perfect prom date.
“It’s all about picking up the girl, going out to eat, getting your boogie on, taking her home and getting that kiss,” Peloquin said.