Rose basketball highlights
Issue 1
September 27th, 2019
Prom planning promises normalcy
MON. | 06-13-22 | NEWS
Prom is an event that most look forward to in high school, and more goes into it than picking out the perfect outfit. Prom became a reality for the first time in two years on Friday, May 27 and most attendees did not know how much work went into planning this perfect night.
“We usually have the prom and then the following Monday we sign the contract for the next prom,” Student Government Association (SGA) advisor Luisa Haynes said. “[This] year has been different since we have not had prom for the past two years.”
The junior class of SGA was in charge of planning every detail that goes into this event. The officers and some junior members attended over ten meetings to set up everything, such as the venue, food, music, decorations and more.
“We had one meeting with all the advisors and Mr. Thomas and we have gone to multiple meetings with the decorator,” SGA junior secretary Layne Mills said. “We got recommendations [for a band] from a senior and had to look into pricing and availability and figured out that Spare Change would be the best fit.”
The junior class also had to provide the financial aspect of prom. They used all extra money from previous fundraisers that had been saved up to put together this years’ prom. They received advice starting their freshman year from the upperclassmen to save up money, because they knew that prom was not a cheap event to plan.
“Everyone [showed] up [to the prom] and everyone [thought] it looks beautiful, but they don’t realize that we agonized over whether we really wanted to spend an extra $2,000 for the fancy chairs,” Haynes said. “It costs about $10,000 to $15,000 to have the prom and that’s why you have to follow certain rules, like if we are going to hire a band or a DJ, they have to be bonded and insured because the school does not want to be liable for that.”
Although the junior officers did most of the planning, some other junior members helped out when they needed extra advice.
“I went to two of the meetings because some of the officers asked me to go for extra input, and the first meeting I went to was at the Convention Center and it was super stressful and very long,” junior SGA member Averi Simpson said. “The officers put so much work in with things like coming up with a date, what food to eat and just getting the Convention Center itself to use, and I am very grateful for all the work [they] put into planning prom because so many people get to benefit from it.”
The junior SGA class also had to come up with a way to make sure every person had the opportunity to attend prom no matter their financial situation. The officers asked companies that have donated in the past, businesses that members knew the owners of and academic boosters in order to raise money to cover ticket prices. If a student could not afford their ticket, they were also given the opportunity to visit the prom closet, which is a closet of donated prom dresses that SGA organizes. Here they were able to pick out whichever prom dress they wanted.
“I have never had a child at Rose that wanted to [go to] prom and did not get to due to financial reasons… and I have been planning prom for 46 years,” Haynes said. “A couple months ago, I was at Food Lion and this girl that I do not remember came up to me and told me that I was the reason she got to go to prom, and that her teacher told her to come see me and how she got her dress from the prom closet.”
The SGA junior officers spent many hours planning this prom, but believed it was all worth it.
“The officers and I put countless amounts of hours into planning this prom, and we really just wanted it to be the best that it has ever been since we have missed out on so much for the past two years,” Mills said. “We [found] a lot of stress in trying to make [it] perfect for everyone since we know how hard the past few years have been on everyone.”
Photo by Mary Bennett Billings