CHS planning for first prom in over three years

By Jameson Thompson

Prom is a special night for all high schoolers across the country and, for some people, is considered to be the most exciting part about being in high school. However, for the past two years, Clinton High School has not hosted a prom, due to COVID-19.

On Friday, March 11, 2022, for the first time in over three years, CHS will be hosting prom.

At the beginning of the year, there was not be a definitive answer on whether prom would be happening.

CHS Principal Brett Robinson expressed how he approached the approval of prom: “As it has been for the past two years, our biggest concern is providing an opportunity for the spread of COVID-19 to affect school. With numbers steadily decreasing, we feel it is safe to hold a prom and hope that it has minimal to no impact on the remainder of the school year.”

Once prom was approved, information was sent out to the student body about the different things students need to do in order to be able to attend prom.

“The first step of being able to attend is to acknowledge the dress code; everyone has to abide by it,” said Student Council Sponsor Hannah-Rachel Smith. “Next, students must fill out the date quiz. Students have to fill out the quiz, regardless, whether they have a date or not. Their date can be anyone from ninth grade all the way up to the age of twenty. Any student that attends our school can have a date who goes here or a date who goes to a different school. If it happens to be that the student is in high school and does not attend CHS, there is a paper form that needs to be signed by the principal of our student’s date, and they will also need to have some sort of identification. If the date happens to be in college, then the parent of our students’ date needs to sign the paper. In either scenario, the dates need to provide some sort of identification. Once these steps are complete, students can purchase their tickets on Go Fan. Tickets are thirty dollars each. After that, all the students need to do is to make sure they show up on time and have a great time!”

When asked what role Student Council members have in preparations for prom, Smith said, “The main thing for our members was to make sure that they promote prom as much as possible to make sure students get excited for it.”

In a typical year, prom is not held during March, nor is it on a Friday. This year, both of those things have changed.

“Prom had to be scheduled In March,” said Smith, “because, when we looked at the schedule of school events, it seemed to be the best time in order to avoid conflicts with other events we have going on.”

Something unique about this year’s prom is that almost no student who currently attends CHS has ever been to a Clinton High School prom.

“I’m very excited, because I have never gotten to experience one, and I think it is a great way to start the beginning of the end of my senior year,” said CHS senior Abigail Vargheese.

Junior Molly Lenow weighed in on how she felt about attending her first prom: “I’m very excited for prom. I wasn’t sure if we were going to have a prom this year, but I remember people were saying that the school was going to try their best to give us dances this year. I’ve never been to prom, and I’m looking forward to it!”

The theme of the 2022 CHS prom is masquerade. It will be held at The Reed House at Live Oaks, which organizers say provides an indoor space in the event of inclement weather, as well as plenty of space for students to spread out.