Students relive high school, missed opportunities in Spring Fling prom

The scene is set: You have just arrived at your senior prom. You get out of the ridiculous limo your rich friend’s mom rented. The friend group is looking straight out of a movie scene and, as you hold hands with your cute date, you enter the prom feeling like James Bond. This is going to be the best night of your life. 

At least, it would have been, had it not been for a sick pangolin being in the wrong place at the wrong time. COVID caused many problems for many people, but for our juniors and seniors it took something beyond value — their high school prom. Luckily for them,  the Campus Activities Board (CAB)  has given them a second opportunity. This year’s Spring Fling theme was High School Prom, and it was a hit. 

For the freshmen and sophomores who actually attended their high schools’ proms, the limo probably looked more like a Honda Civic, and they probably felt more like Michael Cera than Bond. All that in mind, the real question is: Did the Lewis & Clark prom live up to our high school equivalents? 

Kayla Beaird ’27 attended LC’s prom on March 16. 

“I quite enjoyed the prom,” she said. “I think the best part was running around the dance floor and chatting with people I don’t necessarily get to chat with all the time. BIG step up from high school prom. High school prom was bad.” 

Beaird clarified what had made her high school prom less than ideal. 

“I tried to make cute little prom plans and it just didn’t really work out. Also, my high school’s prom theme was gambling and it was really weird,” she said.

Beaird shared her critique and praise of  LC’s prom. 

“I think the space was a bit too big for the crowd that came; I thought the food that they had was really nice there; I thought that the little standing tables were cool; I wasn’t crazy about the mocktails bar,” said Beaird. “I think what made that dance nicer was just that college itself is a different experience. People just act differently … With my high school prom, I felt a lot of pressure to make it perfect. For me, I thought my high school prom was the only time I would get to go to a nice dance. It was quite nice to have a nice dance in college that didn’t have that same pressure.” 

For many students, the prom represented a chance to have that quintessential high school experience without all the social messiness that comes with the real thing. But for others, it did not live up to the Hollywood experience. 

International student Nhan Han ’27, who was Prom King at his high school’s prom, thought it was not as great as the movies promised it would be. 

“It was nice because I got to experience an American high school prom,” Han said. “When I watched movies it was so cool, but I feel like it wasn’t like how it happened in movies … I didn’t like the lights. I feel like I can dance better if the lights are off.” 

A lot of people shared the same sentiment regarding the lights. There was a time when the overhead lights randomly flicked on during the middle of the dance. 

“Like when a club turns out the light at the end of the night and tells everyone to get out,” said Beaird. 

However, that did not stop students from dancing — the prom featured multiple dance circles, breakdancing and a Cotton Eye Joe routine.

It may not have been Grease, and it may not even have been as good as high school for those who got a prom, but it was certainly a night of dancing for friends and peers to remember.