Tabs filled with pictures of enchanting dresses and sharp suits are being opened as the students of FHC begin to get ready for the ever-so-anticipated prom season.
Whether it be choosing the perfect outfit to wear or making plans for getting ready, there is excitement to be felt about preparing for prom—and for senior Gia Monterusso, the part she is most looking forward to is being with her mom.
“I am not really a person who gets ready with friends,” Gia said, “but I think that [my favorite memory getting ready for prom is] having my mom help me with my makeup and be like, ‘Oh, I think you should do this instead of this.’ I just think it’s so cute getting ready, especially when you have a really lovely and sweet mom. I think it’s so fun when they get to be a part of the process, too. It’s like a family bonding moment.”
Each year, history repeats itself, and prom is the last school dance for the seniors’ high school career—bringing feelings of bittersweetness and excitement to the forefront. As a result, Gia, like many other seniors, is planning to make this prom the most memorable.
For Gia, that means stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something new. Anything from getting her nails professionally done for the first time to doing something new and different to her hair is on her list of ways she’s preparing to make this dance one she looks back fondly upon.
“I’m getting my nails done for the first time for prom this year,” Gia said. “I’m so excited, and I really liked doing my hair; I think that’s my favorite part of the getting ready process because I feel like I don’t really do much with it normally. So, I think that it’s really fun to step out of the box and get all fancy”
While Gia has long since been anticipating the arrival of prom season, with her already having bought her dress, others, like senior Millie Alt, tend to lean on the more spontaneous side for dances and leave things to the last minute. For Millie, it is the pressure to find that perfect dress that can lead to things becoming more last minute.
Even so, in the end, she is looking for herself; she is looking for a dress that she knows she’ll fall in love with wearing, and so if that search takes her to the last minute, that is how it will be. She is determined to find a dress she can call her favorite.
“I think about dresses for a long time,” Millie said, “but I don’t ever make a decision until really late because I’m really indecisive about which dress I’m going to want. I always look at things online, but then I’m worried about whether [it will] fit the same way, and then I never have the motivation to go shopping at the mall until it’s really close to the dance. I really want this to be my favorite dress that I’ve worn for any dance. That’s the only thing that I’m looking for.”
For many girls, the excitement of arranging everything for prom surrounds getting a dress or being able to doll themselves up with their loved ones; however, the story for some guys, such as senior Dylan Babcock, is completely different.
While Dylan does do a few things in expectancy for the dance such as deciding what group of friends he will go to prom with, he places less emphasis on the fashion and material part of prom. Rather, he opts to recycle many of the pieces from previous dances.
“I think that [prom] might be a bigger thing for girls than for boys,” Dylan said. “ I mean, that’s kind of [how it is] for all dances. I’ve decided what I’m going to wear. It’s not really anything new. It’s more stuff that I have in my closet from previous dances, and it’s going to be the combination of all the stuff I already have. Obviously, it’s not as intricate as some other people, but it gets the job done.”
Even though his excitement for prom may not be the outfit he is preparing to wear to the dance, it does lay with the people he is planning to go with. Looking back at his previous year at prom, it isn’t his process of getting ready that sticks in his mind, but instead, it is the time he was able to spend with his friends.
For that reason, the group of people that Dylan is going with has become an aspect that he truly looks forward to seeing through. It is that time to be with one another and talk heart-to-heart that he can’t help but look forward to.
“I remember showing up to my friend’s house to pick him up because I was taking him to prom,” Dylan said. “He was a sophomore, and I was a junior. On the way, we were talking about guy stuff. It’s a fun time: a time before the dance [when] we have conversations we never really had before. I think that’s my favorite part: the drive there.”
In the end, prom is something to look forward to. Preparing for prom shouldn’t be a time to worry about how others will like what you’re wearing or how others will perceive you, it’s a time to enjoy your time with your friends and classmates: a time to focus on feelings as great as your last year or two in high school should be.
“[Prom] is really chill,” Millie said. “Don’t worry too much about how you look, especially because at the actual dance, no one’s really paying attention to your makeup or anything. If anything, the thing you should worry the most about is your outfit, but make sure it’s something that you love for yourself and is really your style; it is something that you feel you look good in and not something that you’re dressing for other people to see you in.”
