Prom night: the night every senior looks forward to. With it being the first full year back at  in-person school, the rush of dress and suit shopping is on everyone’s mind. With flowers in one hand and a poster in the other, many White Station students get creative with their promposals.

At the start of this school year, many students questioned whether prom was even a possibility due to covid restrictions. Thankfully, the date for prom has been set for May 7th and the theme is “Hollywood Glam.” 

“I was scared that we might not even have school for this long,” Neeraja Menon (11) said. “I was scared we were going to go back to lockdown, if anything I expected to have a more restricted prom.”

Despite the doubt, students were hopeful that their prom experience would be fulfilled. The announcement of prom came as a pleasant surprise for students, but prom being located at the Esplanade in Cordova was an unexpected, extravagant addition. 

“I was really happy [when I heard we were having prom],” Annie Zhao (12) said. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to have one, but I stayed positive, it was nice to hear we were going to have the experience.”

The opportunity of going to prom is one that is usually taken for granted by many high school students, although the past years have allowed students to recognize how special the experience is. Going to prom is an important part of high school culture; it is a part of coming to age.

“I think it feels great that everyone can come together,”  Zhao said. “Honestly it’s an opportunity taken for granted, and now that [we see that] covid has interrupted [everything] we should appreciate that we can have this to celebrate.”

Because prom is a significant experience, students have begun to get creative when asking dates to prom. Given the name “promposing,” students come up with fun and clever ways to ask their partner to the dance, often being a poster with a cute message on it. Elaina Chen (11) was able to experience this when her date, Wesley Speltz (12), showed up at her house with a speaker and a pretty pink sign with a spin off of Olivia Rodrigo lyrics from her song “Brutal.” 

“I think [promposals are]  really fun and cute,” Chen  said, “A cool way to ask somebody.”

Getting a promposal from that special someone is a dream of many high school teenagers. Annie Zhao was content with leaving this stereotype in the movies, but she was pleasantly surprised when her date, Shawn Meng, popped the big question in the White Station lunchroom with a poster with lyrics from Ruth B’s “Dandelions” and personalized basket for her.

“Obviously I wanted to go to prom, but being promposed to or promposing, it didn’t occur to me which one was more important [if either],” Zhao said. “I didn’t really need to have one or the other [to be happy].”

Prom is going to be White Station’s first large event since lockdown. Students are getting more and more excited as the date approaches, so many students have mixed feelings on the outcome of behavior, but are staying optimistic.

“I feel like it’s going to be good but hectic because we haven’t had a dance or big event in a long time and people [might act crazy],” Chen said. 

With the amount of time until prom swiftly shrinks, students are thrilled to get all dressed up and go to the Esplanade. Students cannot wait to get together and enjoy the “Hollywood Glam” experience of Prom 2022. 

“I’m really excited to see everyone’s dresses,” Annie Zhao said, “I hope everyone shows up all fancy and glamorous.”