Memorial’s first prom was a success this year, despite the less than ideal weather, as The Forum was filled to the brim with dolled-up attendees. Lilly Mason and Xander Montoya were voted first prom queen and king, respectively.
Mason expressed gratitude to everyone who voted for her for the position.
“I was surprised,” Mason said. “But obviously I was excited, and I am just thankful for everyone who took the time to vote for me.”
Prom organizer Erin Dillard was overjoyed by student reaction to the dance.
“It exceeded my expectations and I asked all the kids at prom ‘Are you having fun?’ And most everybody said, ‘Yes, you’re doing so great’ and then even this morning, some kids were saying they loved it,” Dillard said. “So I thought our kids really showed up and did an amazing job, having a good time making choices. Overall, it was a huge success for our first time.”
Dillard thanked the teachers for stepping up and working hard to make sure the kids enjoyed themselves. Even with the overwhelming praise, there were still ways to improve for future years.
“Positive feedback was everyone had a really great time and they thought it looked great,” Dillard said. “Negative feedback was that the DJ was too loud, and one person said they wished they had more seating options.”
Senior prom attendee Ilyanna De La Rosa was among the pleased participants.
“The prom was really nice. They did really well playing current music and not outdated music,” De La Rosa said. “So I think a lot of people like that as well. My favorite part of prom was probably the funny unfortunate events, like my friend splitting his pants.”
While the big party and dancing is fun, it’s the personal moments between friends that makes the event special.
“I would say the best part, besides getting to win prom queen, was taking pictures with my friends and just getting to hang out and spend time with all of them,” Mason said.
Prom turned out to be a hit despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions surrounding the event.
“My initial reaction walking in, I really like the fact that they went out of their way to make sure that we could get inside safely,” De La Rosa said. “They had someone sitting outside to let us know that the weather wasn’t great. It would have been very unfortunate to have multiple people spend a lot of money on their clothes just for them to get ruined, but they took measures to avoid that, so that was really nice.”
De La Rosa attended her first prom at Old High last year.
“Old High was the first prom they had put on in a really long time,” De La Rosa said “But the crowd that showed up for Memorial’s prom was just probably three times the size, which I understand that we have more students, but the people that were there were wanting to be there. They weren’t just there because they had to be there because everyone goes to prom.”
