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Held at the Scottish Rite center in Oakland on Lake Merritt, the junior prom welcomed students with 1920’s decor in the spirit of The Great Gatsby on April 23.

The event began with a catered dinner. Junior Bridgette Marinier said that the students were served “tri-tip, caesar salad, chicken, and rolls.”

“I did really enjoy the dinner,” Marinier added.

Afterwards, students were able to choose from am number of activities, including dancing and games.

Junior Frances Parsons said, “We ate dinner downstairs in a ballroom area and then we went upstairs and there were a bunch of different rooms. One was the dance floor, then there was poker and other card games.”

In addition, a karaoke was available. According to Parsons, most people were dancing and singing karaoke.

Junior Casey Chambers said that he didn’t really enjoy the music. He said, “There were a lot of people there, but they weren’t really dancing and it was super loud and there were a bunch of lights. The music was super loud and I didn’t really enjoy it because it hurt my ears, it was ridiculously loud.”

Chambers did enjoy the karaoke and said the food “wasn’t the worst.”

Junior Vanessa Vaisnor said, “It was a really good experience and it was super, super fun. The place we went to have dinner was really nice and we dressed up for The Great Gatsby for the theme, which the parents did really well at. The Great Gatsby movie was being projected while we were having dinner and they were playing classical music, which really set the mood.”

Vaisnor said there wasn’t anything about prom that she didn’t enjoy. “All my friends had gone to prom before and I hadn’t so I wasn’t really sure what to expect and I think it was pretty cool for me to not know what was going to happen going into it and I think that’s what made the experience even better,” she said.