Prom: Behind the Scenes

Lyla Ali, Staff Writer

Prom is usually what most juniors and seniors look forward to during the school year, but not many people know what goes on behind the scenes, and the process behind the event. 

A lot of effort is put into prom every year to make it memorable for juniors and seniors Along with there being many factors that go into creating prom. Food, decorations, tickets, music, setting up and more. 

This year’s theme is based on the show Bridgeton on Netflix. Students are looking forward to different aspects of the prom. 

A junior at PBC, Arianna Liscki, said she’s excited that she gets to wear a fancy dress. While others are excited about the experience and what they have there.

The organizer of the school prom is Mrs. Besman. She said that the junior class helps make prom and it’s mostly student-run. They do everything from picking out food to decorating the place they choose for prom.

They always try to have as many food options as possible, and students also pick out the theme and music. 

Everyone has their hope of what prom will be like. Not everybody can be pleased, so they try as hard as possible to have aspects to it that appeal to everyone. 

When preparing for prom, they first collectively decide on a theme and their vision of what the centerpiece should look like. 

After the theme is decided, they hire decorators and start to plan with them. Then, the hired decorators along with the junior team begin to decorate together. 

Additionally, they are restricted on the locations where they can host the prom since PBC has one of the largest proms. Usually, places have a max capacity of 500 but PBC normally sells around 600-700 tickets. 

Mrs. Besman said usually their main options are between the Kravis Center and the Convention Center. 

After choosing the location, they try to book whatever date that’s available in April since many events are booked years in advance. 

She gave an example of this year, since the only date the Kravis Center had open was the same weekend as grad-bash. So instead of the Kravis Center, they chose the Convention Center. 

Furthermore, when choosing food options, they try to provide as many accessible options as possible for everyone. For example, the planners need to keep in mind that some students are vegetarians, picky eaters, or cannot eat pork products.

Usually, they choose food places that have their own catering company. A sit-down dinner is too expensive, so they usually choose a buffet-like option since that’s what students also prefer. 

They decide on the food by asking around and seeing what foods students are fond of. Many students already know that there will be food they’ll like but, some are more focused on if there will be pastries like Arianna Lisicki. 

To wrap things up, preparing for prom has a lot of aspects to it. Juniors help in all different ways like picking out a theme, creating a vision, choosing the location, decorating, choosing food, and more.