Matthew Milligan
Staff Writer
Back in April, Science Leadership Academy held its junior prom. What distinguished this prom from its predecessors was the uncharacteristically large amount of the students who attended. Most of the class of 2019 was able to take part in the prom, but why was it so popular?
Junior and prom enthusiast Taylor Green may have some answers. Greene feels as though a domino effect played a large part in motivating people to go.
“It definitely had to do with the student body because it seemed like when one person in the friend group decided to go to prom, that’s when another person the next day would be like ‘you know maybe I’m gonna go to prom’ and then another person would be like ‘maybe I’m gonna go too,’” Green explained.
Junior and fellow prom-goer Brendan Hall agreed with Greene, seeing as he went because many other students were planning on going.
“Everybody was going, I guess peer pressure,” Hall said jokingly.
Besides the urge to follow the crowd, were there other reasons that motivated students to go? Physics teacher BJ Enzweiler, who collected ticket money from students, thinks so.
“This junior class is a group of positive people who genuinely seem to like each other. That attitude is conducive to attendance at functions like this,” Enzweiler stated.
In addition to the class of 2019 getting along well, it seems as though the personalities of the students contributed to the popularity of junior prom.
“I feel as though in the class of 2019 we have a lot of people who do extravagant things . . . Everyone had a sweet sixteen last year because that’s what a lot of the girls in our grade like,” Greene explained. “They like extravagant things. They like getting dressed up and going out and partying, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Hall believes that the prom being budget-friendly this year most likely motivated more students to go than before.
“I think it was because the tickets were so cheap. They were only 30 dollars. The year before it was 50. I think the year before that I think it was 70, so we lucked out on the price.”
Greene agreed, saying that lowering the price makes prom less exclusive and more inviting to all students.
“At first I thought a lot of things would fall through. I guess I had this perception that it would be very expensive . . . I don’t like when people feel excluded because of a financial situation . . . but everything was really nice and well executed.”
While junior prom was popular this year, will it continue to be so in future years?
Greene is not hopeful.
“Honestly I don’t think it will be popular in future years . . . It seems like there is a lot of [underclassmen] that don’t like that stuff. I just don’t think it will be popular amongst their grade.”
Hall, on the other hand, believed that we could see next year’s prom being even more lively than this year’s.
“Yeah, I think definitely if the price stays as low. I feel like the grade below us, they like to go out and go to dances even more than us probably, so I feel like that’s gonna continue next year,”Hall said.
Future popularity aside, both students feel as though the tradition of junior prom is worth keeping.
“It keeps the tradition of prom alive. I think it is important to keep that tradition . . . Prom is about seeing everyone . . . looking different and being happy and just having a good time for one night during a school week,” Green said.
“I think it does matter because prom is for the students and if the students don’t like it then there’s no point in having it,” Hall stated.
Regardless of its popularity, Mr. Enzweiler believes that junior prom will continue on as it has each year.
“We’ve had Junior Prom as a tradition at SLA since the first Junior class, and I think we’ll continue with this going forward. Nothing we’ve seen so far indicates to me that we should stop it.”
So if you’re anything like the excited junior class of this year, you may wanna start planning out your night now. Junior prom comes quicker than you know it.
Leave a Reply