Junior Prom was close to being cancelled due to lack of funding. It is currently scheduled for May 18.
Prom tickets have always been $65 per person, but this year tickets were raised by $10. Fundraising for this year’s junior prom was extremely low, causing the price increase in order to pay for the event.
“The junior class was starting with no money as we began planning prom,” math teacher Jessica Levy said. “Classes in the past have used fundraisers to help offset the cost of prom tickets.”
A Prom Committee that was created earlier in the year to assist with fundraising hopes to raise enough money for the prom to continue. “After the Jan 29 class meeting, a few students stayed behind to brainstorm fundraising ideas and decided to sell lanyards during lunch,” Levy said. “Unfortunately, not as many lanyards were sold as we had hoped.”
Another student on the Committee felt the price increase was necessary. “As we know prom tickets are being sold for $75,”Ali Feder ’20 said. “But from what I’m told being on the committee, we had pretty much no money to get the DJ and tent so we had to upcharge ticket pricing to make up for it.”
The ticket prices became a controversial topic and tensions started rising between juniors.
“I think that the junior prom tickets are overpriced because the dance is at the school and catered by the school cafeteria,” Aly Sivinski ’20 said. “The economic situation of all families wasn’t taken into account even though prom is supposed to be for everyone but not everyone can afford to pay $75.”
Other students argued that the ticket prices were fair “Tickets for counties were $150 per couple,” Jason Hyman ’20 said. “So it only made sense to me that prom tickets were also $75 per person, $150 when you pay as a couple.”
Another student who has close relations to the prom committee agreed that the prices were a concern. “While we do live in a wealthy town, I think that it is unreasonable to assume that all families have sufficient funding,” an anonymous junior student said. “While most might think that the extra money isn’t a big deal, it is for some families. I think that if we had started raising money way in advance [or thinking of other options] it would not have resulted in this.”
Students from previous years were concerned that the price increased for in order to profit the school. “Tickets for junior prom last year were $65.” Tess Davis ’19 said. “I’m not sure why they increased the price, but I’m sure teachers would not do it without good reason.”
However, members of the Committee have explained that the prices are only upped in order to actually put on the event. “Our grade lacked in purchasing logowear,” Jackie Zinn ’20 said. “The prom Committee sold lanyards throughout the year in order to raise money, yet it was still not enough, therefore prom ticket prices were bumped up.” […] The school isn’t making a profit from these tickets, any leftover money would be used for our grade next year.”
The junior prom will still be hosted, as many juniors have signed up and purchased their tickets already.