Prom askings more eventful than prom

Over the years, the process of asking someone to prom has become an event in itself. Prom askings have escalated from posters to performances, requiring more time, more effort and resulting in more pressure.
In the past, flowers and a poster were more than enough to score a prom date. Prom askings weren’t necessarily considered an event.

In recent years, the posters have had to be clever and often accompanied with balloons, flowers and large groups of friends. And this newfound event isn’t exclusive to Saratoga; prom askings have been updated, escalated and reinvented throughout the nation.

“What some people do is crazy and kind of incredible. Just today I saw over Facebook that a guy surprised his girlfriend who was visiting Dartmouth with a prom asking,” said senior My-Lan Le.

Although these new standards can be demanding, it’s all in good fun.

“Some prom askings are becoming really impressive,” said senior Jonathan Young. “I don’t really mind it. I think it is worth the effort if it makes the girl happy. And it’s fun to get a lot of people involved.”

For junior Jonathan Huie high expectations were taken into consideration when he created an elaborate asking that wowed junior Julianne Lau.

Excitement ran high for Huie and his friends on April 2, as Lau was rushed to the choir room during lunch. Huie’s creative and colorful prom asking was underway.

Inside the choir room, Lau’s friends waited, arranged on the risers with 20 balloons; hanging from the balloons styrofoam cut out letters spelled “Prom?”

Lau had joked with Huie prior the asking that she wanted to be asked with a massive hot balloon. With the help of junior Jennifer Kim, Huie came close to granting her wish.

“Obviously I couldn’t [ask her in a hot air balloon.] But Jennifer came up with the idea of making foam letters and attaching balloons,” said Huie. “So I made the letters from styrofoams. I cut and painted them.”

But the preparation did have its share of problems. The paint that Huie used deteriorated the styrofoam and the special 24 hour balloons failed to hold up overnight.

“He tried making the letters by cutting out the styrofoam and then spray painting it but then the spray paint reacted and eroded the letters so it looked bad,” said Kim.

With the help of his father, Huie was able to re-cut and repaint the letters as well as find friends to hold the balloons. In all, the count was 20 balloons, six friends and one successful prom asking.

When Lau walked into the choir room, she was overwhelmed as Huie presented her with a poster that said “Fly on a C-Lau-D with me to prom.” Needless to say, Lau was delighted.

“At first I didn’t know what was happening, but when I saw everyone was staring at me I was really surprised and extremely happy,” said Lau. “It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”