Pre-Prom Sneak Peak
By Vismay Ravikumar
STAFF WRITER
May 6th: a memorable night of dance, dinner, and dozens of photos taken with friends and significant others. As junior prom approaches, an event that the junior board and faculty advisors Mr. Rand and Ms. Chachus have spent months organizing, both anticipation and stress are palpable in the air.
The junior board got off the ground in January. Since then, the board has spent countless meetings picking out the venue, choosing decorations, finalizing the meal—which will be buffet-style this year—and determining a theme for the event. According to Nick Vaccaro, the date for prom this year has stirred up a lot of controversy among the student body as it falls in the middle of AP exams, but the date was out of the hands of the board, as it was one of the only dates available at the venue.
Junior Emily Packer tries on her prom dress.
The most stressful part—according to Vaccaro—was ticket sales. Nicholas Rand, a faculty advisor for the junior board, was shocked by the “fervor to buy tickets.” This year, eighty percent of tickets were bought on the first day, a record-breaking number that surpasses last year’s first-day sales multiple times over. With a table set up in the cafeteria, board members collected payments, managed table sign-up sheets, and handed out prom tickets. With people having to select the tables they would be sitting at during sign up, people wanted to be the first in line to secure the table they wanted. Vaccaro emphasized that the process was stressful for board members, who had not expected the crowds that had amassed—with a line that wrapped around the cafeteria.
Rand attributes a lot of this enthusiasm to the sophomore semi-formal last year—the first dance held at Andover High since the COVID-19 pandemic—which gave juniors a taste of what dances have to offer. Many students even headed down to the cafeteria early for prom tickets to ensure they got the seats they desired before they had been snatched up, despite reiteration of the expectation that students must stay in class up until the bell rings. Caitlin Brown, principal of Andover High, was out in the hallways, making sure that students didn’t leave early. Brown recognized the excitement surrounding prom but wanted to maintain a safe environment and keep students engaged in class, and she will thus deal with this issue on a case-by-case basis.
As prom approaches, Vaccaro notes that there is a lot of stress surrounding prom in addition to all of the enthusiasm, but he’s confident that everyone will have “a lot of fun when they get there.” Brown doesn’t know whether the junior class is full of instinctual planners or just very enthusiastic in general, but she is thrilled by the junior class’s response. Apart from juniors, a significant number of both seniors and sophomores will be in attendance, as well as dates and friends from other schools, but juniors make the majority of attendees and will be the focus of the night.
