With just a few days remaining until Saturday’s junior prom, some are scrambling to secure dates for the dance, while others have been planning their prom attire and extravagant invitations for months.
This years’ prom theme is based upon the classic novel The Great Gatsby. “It’s good, fun, different, lively and everybody loves it, I can’t wait,” said junior Juliet Rosso.
Junior Matt O’Reilly invited his girlfriend of 9 months, junior Marissa Monopoli, on April 17 by displaying a personalized message on the Rheem theatre billboard. “I didn’t know if it was possible or not, but I called them and asked, ‘Is there any way you guys can put up a message for me? I want to ask my girlfriend to prom,’ and they were ok with it,” O’Reilly said.
Monopoli had been expecting a unique proposal from O’Reilly. “I thought he was going to do something special because he just cares a lot about me,” she explained.
However, she was not prepared to drive by a sign reading “I love you, Marissa, will you go to prom with me?” on the way to see a movie. “He told me we were going to go on a drive. We passed the movie theatre and he didn’t even say anything, but I noticed immediately,” Monopoli said. “I was totally surprised.”
According to O’Reilly, the proposal was a success. “She seemed really excited. Her mom and sister were there too and they took some pictures,” he said.
O’Reilly wanted to be more original in his invitational that he had been for Homecoming in the fall. “My homecoming idea was pretty lame, and I guess for prom I just wanted to do something more memorable and special,” he explained.
Though they didn’t attend a movie that night, Monopoli plans to officially confirm O’Reilly’s prom invitation at the cinema. “I think I’m going to take him to a movie and maybe have my friends sit in the front row and hold up a sign that says “yes,” before the movie starts,” said Monopoli.
While they formality of accepting the invitation has yet to be completed, Monopoli and O’Reilly have already coordinated their outfits for the event. “She’s wearing a pink dress and I’m wearing a black tux with a pink bow tie and pink vest,” said O’Reilly.
Junior Nick Hughes also contrived a memorable invitation for his girlfriend, junior Danielle Schumacher. “He kidnapped me and drove me to the Commons blindfolded and made me hike up a small hill,” Schumacher recalled.
“I had a bunch of candles and I spelled out prom,” Hughes said. “I did it in an area where the grass would not burn.”
Because the two have been dating for some time, Hughes was not nervous about Schumacher’s reaction to the proposal. “I was pretty confident she was going to say ‘yes,'” he said.
Some junior girls are breaking traditional gender roles by taking the initiative and doing the inviting. Junior Emily Stevens invited freshman Jolen Griffin to attend prom with her. “I was like ‘you’re a really good friend and everything, would you like to go to prom with me?’ and before I even said ‘prom’ he was just like ‘yes!’ and we hugged,” Stevens recounted.
“She kind of came up to me and she started talking about how I’m such a good friend and said ‘can you go to prom with me?’ and I said yes,” Griffin confirmed.
Although Griffin is nervous to attend a prom with older students, he believes the experience will allow him to “know what to expect” for his own prom.
“I get to come with everybody and hang out with people and it will be lots of fun,” Griffin added.
Stevens believes there is a growing trend of girls asking boys to the dance. “It depends if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, because usually then the boyfriend will do something, but if you’re single, it’s girls. Girls rule the world,” she explained.
Stevens has been looking forward to prom since she was 10, and believes that the dance is “not about the perfect date, just the whole experience.” She has picked out a purple halter dress with beading in the back and matching sparkly black shoes.
“Guys don’t appreciate the hard work girls put into finding their dress and getting the right shoes and everything, it’s such a struggle,” lamented a junior girl.
Ultimately, flamboyant invitations are not what makes or breaks the poem experience. Junior Lizzie Farnan asked a junior from Miramonte to prom. “I asked him over text message, he said ‘yes,'” said Farnan. “I went the simple, casual way. I think if you like the person you’re going with it really doesn’t matter,” she said.
