by Lauren Holzmann | arts and entertainment editor
Sitting in class and the bell rings, you leave class and descend the stairs to your next period when you see the posters in the hallway: “CTJ Prom 2016: A Space Odyssey” and get really excited as you realize that night will be here in the blink of an eye. Skimming the poster, you try to find all of the details to share with your friends and you see that the price of the tickets went up, again.
Your broke high school self panics, wondering how you’ll have to rearrange your budget to make room for that extra price difference. Suddenly wondering if you can live without that extra bracelet that matches your dress perfectly, but you realize you will make it work for one last night of fun with your friends.
“This year the tickets are $60. You have to factor in the different types of costs that are associated with the prom,” English teacher and co-sponsor of the prom planning committee Daniel Farias said. “We do have to make sure we do have enough funding to be able to cover [the venue and other costs]. In addition to the ticket purchase, they also get a T-shirt and then they also get a free gift after the prom.”
Students realize that the price went up a little from last year and are trying to factor that into their overall budget but understand that it may have been necessary to make prom the way it is.
“Well, it’s not that big of an increase for me but that’s still kind of expensive,” senior Ayesha Meghani said. “I guess the venue is pretty expensive so they have to round up but I heard the t-shirts are cute so maybe that’s going to add up for it.”
In compliance with the venue, students are asked to dress in formal attire and suits or tuxedos to help make the night as elegant as possible.
“It’s a formal event so we just ask everyone to dress to impress so tuxedos; dark suits for guys and girls you know, dresses that are formal and elegant,” Farias said.
The theme this year was chosen by the class officers and the sponsors after viewing several presentations and brainstorming sessions.
“It’s a committee decision,” Farias said. “Then we decide what is feasible and what is doable, but also what is sort of innovative and creative that hasn’t been done before.”
The decorations play a big factor in the decision making process when it comes to picking out a theme because they have to be able to decorate in compliance to the theme.
“We hope they can come in expecting a lot of black, white, silver, a lot of fluorescents, we are doing a lot of things with glow in the dark and digital images so we are hoping to make it sort of futuristic but also fun and enjoyable for them as a prom-going experience,” Farias said.
Many students are unaware of the idea that the Reagan prom is coincidentally on the same night as ours, but the committee isn’t concerned about the conflict.
“Really it’s just a coincidence because we have to work with the school calendar and we have to work with the hotel calendar. So it’s one of those things where we have to pick the date that works best for everyone involved,” Farias said. “It just so happened that this year, it falls on the same day as Reagan so we’re just hoping that everything works out for the best.”
The committee is using advertising to get the word out and promote the dance to try and get as many students to come as possible.
“We are using word of mouth campaign, we have some flyers posted up around school and in teachers classrooms. Teachers that teach juniors and seniors, we’ve been wearing our t-shirts, we have been giving out notecards about ticket sales so really social media and word of mouth campaign. So little by little the word gets out,” Farias said.
Prom season is already amongst us and the countdown to find the dress or the suit has begun.
“[The prom is going to be] April 9th at the JW Marriott and it is 8pm to 12am,” Farias said.
