In the hopes of providing attendees a memorable Prom, students and advisors are finalizing touches on the months-long process of planning the event.
This year’s Prom will take place on April 26. Despite taking place towards the end of the year, the process of readying Prom began in February of last year.
Jenna Repp, a math teacher at Revere High School (RHS) and the senior class adviser has headed up Prom planning and coordination for the past ten years, she explains the most important objectives that need to be completed for the event.
“The first step is securing the venue. . . after the venue, seniors get to pick the Prom theme. . . [including] colors and decor. And then picking the menu. . . and in the past, we’ve always had a photo booth. The next thing is probably the DJ and getting someone lined up for that,” Repp said.
With the extravagance of the event, the financial aspects of Prom need to be meticulously coordinated to account for all expenses. Repp elaborated on how the money from ticket sales is split to cover costs.
“The money from the ticket sales covers, obviously, [rental], the venue for all of the food . . . with that, you have to have security there, so an additional police officer. . . and then it’s the DJ, any photo booth, any decor centerpieces, [and] parking. We’re not trying to make profit, but we have to give ourselves a little wiggle room. But anything that is left, that just goes into the senior picnic. My goal is to spend all of the money in the senior class fund before [they] leave,” she said.
Cynthia Beshara, an educator at both Bath Elementary and RHS, has also been involved with the Prom-planning process over the past few years. She collaborated with Repp and RHS principal Doug Faris to secure a venue. Her main role in the process was requesting a purchase order for a deposit during a class’s junior year. Beshara explained the considerations that go into choosing a venue.
“Affordability, the reputation of the vendor. . . [and] availability [are] all key factors. The date is determined first, and then we start. Mrs. Repp and I and the principal all work together to figure out which date has the least amount of conflicts with what’s going on with other things that are occurring with the school, and then ultimately, administration decides on what date would work best,” she said.
Beshara makes the reservations over a year in advance to account for other schools’ conflicts and general events throughout the year. Quaker Station, an event venue in Akron, will host Prom this year. Beshara described the working relationship Revere has had with the venue over the years.
“At this point, we’ve had a really good relationship with Quaker Station, and they have been the most affordable and very easy to work with, so we have been using them as our Prom vendor for the past several years. So with that good relationship in place, we’ve just been returning there for Prom, which just makes it easier for that consistency from year to year,” she said.
On the student end, class president Macie Lehman works closely with Repp and the PTA to account for the material aspects of the event. She explains the role class council plays in hosting Prom.
“Mainly we decorate the Prom itself. The PTA does Prom as well as the after Prom. So what that entails for us is doing centerpieces, any backdrops, and really just decorating the facility itself. I personally did collaborate with the PTA a lot this year. They were very kind and involved me in all their planning. . . because we obviously vote on the theme as a class. So they wanted to make sure that everything they’re doing is coordinating with. . . what our vision is,” Lehman said.
Lehman explained that she consulted students, catalogs, and teachers to come up with viable theme options. This year’s theme is Tangled, inspired by the Disney movie of the same name. This year, the senior class voted for themes through a Google Form, which informed the chosen decor. Lehman elaborates on this year’s logistics of setting up the venue.
“This year, we are very fortunate that there’s nothing going on at Quaker station the night before [Prom], and they are allowing us to come on Friday. We did have a meeting back. . . before spring break. So hopefully we’ll have quite a few class council members show up to help decorate. But yeah, we’re hoping to get that all done Friday, so that way everyone can just focus on getting ready and spending time with friends on the day of Prom,” she said.
To ensure that attendees are fully able to enjoy that hard work put into Prom by students and teachers alike, there are parameters in place on the coordinators’ end to guarantee the safety of the event. One of these is the Prom contract, which Repp explains is useful for a variety of reasons.
“The Prom contract offers a way of. . . parents of any attendees for Prom to be aware of the rules and guidelines. Prom doors open at 7:00. If [people] don’t show up by 7:30 then we’re calling parents. So it just helps with communication. . . if we need to contact parents,” she said.
Lehman is prioritizing the memorability and grandeur of Prom, highlighting her focus on the aesthetics of the event.
“I really wanted to be extravagant. I just don’t want. . . to just throw together the dance. Like, a lot of times people said to me, “you don’t need to go that big.” For me. . . the biggest part is just coordinating all the decorations and making sure it looks very pretty,” Lehman said.
With the amount of work that has gone into Prom, attendees are sure to enjoy the festivities.
