Over the past year, attendance at informal dances has declined drastically, even resulting in the cancellation of the Sadie Hawkins Dance in late March. Judging by the results of Junior Prom, however, dances are in no danger of becoming extinct anytime soon.
On April 19, 280 students, more than there have been in previous years, boarded five full coach buses at 6 p.m. and headed to the Bay Club in Santa Clara, where a night of memories awaited them.
As students walked in, they were greeted with various shades of blue decorations and a friendly ambience. Making their way through the hall, they saw a river flowing through the middle surrounded by green ferns and twinkling lights, which made it feel all the more like “paradise.”
Once inside, attendees received mocktails, non-alcoholic cocktails in margarita glasses, and mingled with their friends. For those with a sweet tooth, there was a blue and white candy bar where students could help themselves to whatever they wanted and a delicious chocolate fountain to enjoy to their heart’s content. A photobooth with costumes was also set up so students could dress up with friends and take photos.
The photobooth was sponsored by the families of juniors Madison Gress and Jennifer McAfee, who split the total rental cost of four hours, $496. The original price was $995 for a 4-hour rental, but by using a LivingSocial coupon the two girls were able to lower the price by $500.
For dinner, students enjoyed dishes such as a vegetarian ravioli and chicken risotto and drinks such as soda and fruit punch.
Junior class president Adrienne Kim said ASB and the class’s advisers, school secretary Julia Peck and health teacher Amy Obenour generously helped to create a beautiful venue and memorable night for the students.
“[Peck] set up a candy bar, which may seem a bit informal, but it was so beautiful and an incredible hit,” junior class vice president Anish Srinivasan said.
Students could also participate in something similar to “a message in a bottle.” Students wrote messages on slips of paper that they dropped into a huge bottle for the entire class. The bottle will be saved until the class's senior night, during which the messages will be read aloud to look back on Junior Prom.
Junior Varna Jammula said that prom was a great break from the stress of junior year and definitely “worth the go.”
But there were some things that students wish could have been improved. Junior Rohan Bharadwaj said the dance floor was too small to accommodate everyone.
In addition, junior Shreyes Balebail, who is not a huge fan of dancing, wished that there were more activities during the night. He also wished there was a shorter waiting time for pictures, especially because there was only one photographer.
Despite these criticisms, students still found the night enjoyable.
“The venue staff was really nice and helpful and even our school's staff was super nice and they really wanted to make it as good for us as they could,” Balebail said.
Just like last year’s Senior Ball, an anti-freaking policy was in effect.
“I thought that the whole ‘no freaking’ policy was going to keep everyone from dancing, but the opposite happened. We danced for basically the whole night,” junior Annalea De Luca said.
Even English teacher Natasha Ritchie, who chaperoned at prom, noticed the positive impact the anti-freaking policy had on the night.
“In the past [the dancing] has been a big blob of monotonous backwards freaking dancing (if indeed you can call that dancing) regardless of the music or beat,” Ritchie said. “But this year the music had pretty nice variety and I saw plenty of awesome moves on the dance floor and more people being themselves out there.”
In fact, she observed almost 95 percent of the attendees were dancing consistently the entire night, compared to lower participation in previous years. Ritchie also noticed that the couples this year coordinated their clothing and that the photo booth was a huge hit.
As the night came to an end, the juniors left with memories to last them a lifetime.
“I didn't really have a favorite part because the whole night was just really fun,” Jammula said.
