Thoughts about Prom

Now usually I am talking all the time about ART, ART, ART. Today though, I am tackling Prom. Now for some crazy reason Mrs. Skelton, one of our fantastic guidance counselors and I have taken on the responsibility of Junior Class Sponsors this year. Although most people think we are nuts for doing it, we are really quite excited. In Mrs. Skelton's other life, meaning the one outside of school, she is a wedding coordinator. How fantastic. So now, the wedding coordinator and the art teacher have taken over prom...watch out!

We have a lot of ideas which we are so excited about! We have met with the junior and senior classes about our ideas. The students, I believe are quite excited too! This year marks our 100th anniversary of Paris High School and there is no better way to celebrate than mixing in some new traditions into the old. This year we have decided to make prom an extremely special event for the students. Our focus this year is giving our students a prom that let's them show their peers, our faculty and administration, parents, and our community that they are responsible young adults and have the best prom imaginable. For the first time in for I can almost say "ever" PHS prom will be hosted in Terre Haute. We have booked the Ohio Room in downtown for our celebration.

Our biggest concerns in the past have been a concern of finance and safety. Let's face it, it is not uncommon for the average teenager to spend a few hundred dollars on a dress or tux that they will wear one night, flowers, prom tickets, dinner and gas money to get to and from dinner to the prom.

Prom is just expensive. Our goal this year is to make prom as inexpensive as we can for our students. For the first time we are incorporating dinner into our prom. Paris did not provide a venue that could hold us all for dinner and dancing, there fore we had to look in other directions. The Ohio Building fell into our laps. How luck were we! By using a strong fundraiser we are hoping to pay for the majority of the dinner and dance, hopefully cutting out completely or making prom tickets minimal in cost, making dinner basically free for the students. In regard to the expense of fuel, we are encouraging students to get creative. In the past, most of them traveled to Terre Haute to eat dinner and back to town. To them it was not ever considered an issue. To others, it may pose a question. We are talking to students about carpooling and safety, getting together and renting those limos (now that they aren't having to pay for dinner) they have always talked about. We are also looking in to alternative transportation or students such as a bus service. We will make sure that any student who wants to be at prom,makes it to prom.

Our second great concern is our student safety. In years past students have finished with Grand March and raced to Terre Haute, rushed through dinner, and raced back to town for prom and then the after-prom. You do not know how many stories I have heard from students. Frankly it is a situation that needs to be fixed and that is our goal. Students will continue going through Grand March as normal. Once Grand March is over, students will be given a time that the dinner for prom will begin. There will be no need for students to rush or speed to get there, they will have enough time to make it safely. At that point our students will be at prom for the entire evening until the close of the event. Keeping our students together and with our faculty in a safe environment is very important to us. At the close of prom students will again be given an allotted amount of time to drive safely to the after-prom. This will be coordinated with Mr. Doughan.

We have a really good group of students at this high school who are in desperate need to show their responsibility and maturity. We are stressing from now until the night of prom how important each "move" that they make is a reflection on not only themselves but for our school and community. We only want the best for our students and giving them this way to show their maturity, will be a fantastic way to add a new tradition into the next 100 years at PHS.

We are asking you as parents to please come to us with any questions. We are happy to answer them and if we don't have answers, we will find them. We need you to be as supportive as you can for your children. Please help us make this a safe and fantastic event for your children by encouraging responsibility and safety each and everytime they mention prom to you.