'It's actually happening': Students organize first normal prom in three years

Prom. Whether in movies, musicals, memories from parents and siblings, or even their own imaginations, young people can't escape its lore and legend. But this year's prom— among the first "normal" major school events that high schoolers across the Lakes Region have had in over two years— means so much more. 

At this year’s local junior proms, there will be no masks, no distancing enforced by measuring tape, no dividing students up into pods, no bans on slow dancing, and minimal to no capacity limits. The students who planned these proms are giddy, relieved and in disbelief that the day has arrived. 

“My brother was a senior when COVID hit, and I watched him miss out on so much,” said Haley Richter, junior class treasurer at Laconia High School. “I didn’t know if I would even have a prom. So it’s exciting that it’s actually happening.” 

For the first time since entering high school, “All the hard work we’ve done to plan will actually be meaningful, be for something real,” said Emma Cullen, a member of the Belmont High School prom planning committee. “It’s just such a relief.” 

Last spring’s proms were either adapted to fit the limitations of school restrictions or postponed altogether. After years of watching school events get moved online and restrictions rise and fall, this year's junior class members — who were freshmen when the pandemic hit — had to make their preparations without knowing what the pandemic climate would be when the event finally happened.  

“It was a guessing game,” said Peyton Mills, a member of the Belmont High School prom committee. “We had a mindset of ‘prepare for the worst, hope for the best.’” Belmont’s junior class advisor, Linda Otten, even volunteered to chaperone the modified prom from the previous class to get a feel for what a virus-conscious prom would look like— just in case.

“We’ve been planning like it would be what we hoped for,” said Madison Stoddard, student council and planning committee member at Gilford High School, “and things have gone our way— but there is always that uneasy feeling that things could change any time.” 

The volatility of the pandemic circumstances made the planning process far more stressful, and difficult to navigate, than ever. Student planning committees had to find venues with outdoor options or that would be big enough to allow students who wanted more social distance to have space. They had to decide how much money to invest in an event that could get canceled by pandemic restrictions at any time. 

Above all, they had to find a way to get the essentials together on a tight budget. Prom planning and fundraising begins years in advance. When this year’s junior class officially started their prom preparations last winter, restrictions were still in full effect in schools and vaccinations were not yet available to people under eighteen.

The generosity of local businesses, parents and teachers were the lynchpin in overcoming these obstacles. At Laconia High School, Smith’s Apple Orchard offered to host the event for free, Coca Cola donated drinks, Spectrum Lighting donated their time in setting up for the event and the teachers will serve the food. Faculty in Belmont helped with fundraising and finding vendors who would do the event within students’ crunched budgets. 

With the money that students were able to raise within pandemic limitations, Gilford would have only been able to afford to hold its prom at the Gilford Community Center. Faculty advisor Dee O’Connor heard from Church Landing in Meredith that there happened to be a cancellation in their event space on May 13. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass by, O’Connor reached out to parents for help. MB Tractor and Equipment, owned by Marc Bourgeois, whose son is a member of the junior class, paid the venue fee on top of the company’s monetary donation to prom funds. 

“We really could have not done this without the generosity of parents, teachers, and local businesses, MB Tractor especially,” O’Connor said. Dawn Adolfsson, advisor to the Laconia prom committee, similarly emphasized that she was overwhelmed by the generosity of parents and local businesses. 

Because people have not had a “normal” formal event in so long — and simply because it’s the junior prom — planners face high expectations from their peers about everything from the food options to what the march will be like to the menu. Tanner McKim of Belmont said that as class president he felt immense pressure to deliver the ideal prom experience for his peers. When obstacles in funding or logistics with venues posed potential obstacles to that vision, “It felt like that got put on my shoulders,” he said.

Though students at each school said ticket sales are now booming, initially low turnout made each planning committee concerned that there would not be enough buy-in to cover the costs of the event. 

Students are fatigued with events under tight restrictions, said McKim, and before those were lifted it seemed like many students would rather organize a dance outside of school or not go at all. “People were kind of over the high school experience,” McKim said. “The attitude was, ‘we just have to ride it out.’” 

Finn Mousseau, Laconia’s junior class president, saw the initial hesitation as a mixture of pandemic apprehension and typical prom emotions. “I think people were waiting to hear about COVID regulations, but also about the theme and venue, and I think a lot of people just procrastinated,” Mousseau said. 

As pandemic regulations in schools declined in late winter, it became clear to planning committees that they would probably be able to have “normal” proms. Having such a major high school milestone be like it was in “before times,” is a landmark distinction for students who, as Richter said, “haven’t had a normal year yet.”

“This finally makes it feel like I am actually in high school,” said Kim McWinnie, vice president of Belmont’s junior class.

“I barely remember most moments from freshman and sophomore year,” because they were mostly online, said Cullen. “It was a blur. Now we get to give our class something we will actually remember and look back on.” 

As the details fell into place — making nail and hair appointments, picking up tuxedos and corsages — an event that for a long time seemed out of reach, or always at risk, became bewilderingly real.

“I think it’s finally started to hit people that prom is this week, and it’s actually happening,” said Mills, who had just gotten a text from her hair-dresser asking for photos of how she wanted to do her hair.

“What I’ve loved the most is putting together the little things,” said McKim. “Like getting fitted for my tux and renting a limo for my friends and me.” McWinnie echoed this. “I forgot about those things, in all the stress,” of planning, she said.

At the same time, the moment is bittersweet: for this year's juniors it may feel like their high school experience has just begun, yet the prom, at the end of their third year, symbolizes the beginning of the end of high school. “First it’s prom and then suddenly it’s senior year and then you graduate,” Stoddard said. 

Above all, however, students are excited. For young people who have heard movies and parents romanticize prom, and who then had the promise of that experience, as Stoddard said, “snatched away,” having a normal prom is anything but normal. 

“I have never even gotten to go to a high school dance before,” said McWinnie. “But I have dreamed about going to prom my whole life.”