Prom is Lambert’s most awaited event for upperclassmen to celebrate either their last year in high school or the monumental transition from junior to senior year. This year’s prom will be held on Friday, May 8 at the Gas South Arena and tickets are currently on sale.
Much of the planning for the event is done by Lambert Student Council’s (STUCO) Homecoming and Prom Planning Committee. This committee, led by Junior Aerin Macatula, decides the theme and activities for both events in collaboration with the administration team. As Macatula notes, the planning for prom is similar to homecoming as it encompasses many similar aspects.
“It’s kind of like Homecoming,” Macatula explained. “There’s gonna be different things to do. It’s not just dancing, like the music that is playing is gonna be the music that’s playing now, so everyone likes it. There’s food and different activities that you can do.”
Through such efforts, the committee often focuses on increasing inclusivity at these events as they try to take Lambert’s student body’s diverse interests into consideration.
One change that many students have noted for prom this year is that the date is during AP Exam season in May. It’s much later in the year compared to previous years and, for some students, falls during a stressful time of year. However, this decision was meant to allow more students to be able to attend prom.
“They switched the day to Friday now,” Macatula said. “They’re starting to implement that just so that more groups can go because in previous years people weren’t able to go because conferences were happening at the same time. And so they switched that so more people could come.”
This decision highlights how the focus on prom planning has shifted to take more student commitments into account and reach a larger portion of the student body.
This focus on inclusivity and high participation is a shared goal for the planning committee. Some students often opt to just get prom pictures and do dinner outside, skipping the entire event. Macatula and the rest of the committee are working hard to change this and are trying to encourage students to attend.
“I feel like this year we’re trying to market it so everyone’s trying to go to the actual thing,” she explained. “You only have two proms and some schools only have senior prom. It’s a rare thing that I feel it’s also fun to go and make memories. And so we want to make people go to as many events as they can, so they make the most of it.”
By working to address the different conflicts and include more activities, the planning committee is redefining what it means to attend the dance. Students interested in attending can buy tickets on GoFan.
