This year has been a tough one with the global pandemic entirely changing the system of education, followed by a complete lack of social events. It seemed that everyone had accepted the excitement of previous years would not be present in all of our 2020-2021 school year. 

Yet, just as the end of the year approaches, Air Academy announced the return of Prom. Unlike in previous years, prom will only be thrown for seniors at Air Academy this year in an effort to reduce crowd size and potential COVID exposure.

Prom will be taking place on May 8th from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm. There is no fee to attend!

The event is solely focused on Air Academy seniors to make sure each senior gets the chance to experience prom. However, many senior members of the Air Academy student community feel the inability to invite people outside of school and the absence of the junior grade level significantly dampens the event.

Senior Jayci Richardson agreed that the only problem that may arise would be those who had other guests they intended to attend prom with, stating “that problem alone may turn away some seniors.”

Aside from invitation complications, seniors still believe this prom will be extremely fun!

“It’s something I’ve been looking forward to since I was little,” Senior Lilianna Silva recollected.

“I think it’s really important that our school is throwing a prom,” said senior Sophia Zuniga, “Since COVID, a lot of what made our senior year special has been taken away. At the very least we get to have this before graduating.”

The high number of added differences this prom will have compared to previous years is no surprise, but what do these differences entail?

First, this year’s prom will be held outside! With the capacity staying at 175, AAHS has declared a second prom will be held if that limit is overrun.

Snacks and drinks will still be served! This year they will be prepackaged for safe serving.

As well as this year’s prom being for seniors only, there is also talk of seniors being split into two groups of their choosing.

“[Prom] will most likely be split into 2 different groups that will coordinate with the ticket you sign up for,” said Sydney Splinder, a senior apart of StuCo, “These are both just in order to follow the COVID guidelines for the county.”

Unfortunately, this may entail groups or friends being split up, and many seniors hold a fear of lacking that social comfort.

“I want to go to my senior prom, but I probably wouldn’t have much fun by myself, or even if I pushed myself to interact with others I barely know,” Richardson explained.

“I find the idea of prom exciting but I do not plan on attending,” Sophia Zuniga explained, “This is only because there is no one I want to go with and we can’t take anyone [outside of AAHS] with us. I understand that’s for safety reasons though.”

Furthermore, Sydney Splinder mentioned the difference in ticket prices this year, “Tickets will most likely be free or very cheap, compared to the $40-70 in previous years!”

“StuCo has a lot of experience planning dances, especially our advisor Mrs. Maxwell,” Splinder continued, “I’m anticipating that all should go well because we are putting a lot of thought and work in right now to help [everything] go smoothly…we just really want to give the seniors an opportunity to have something “normal” and fun!”

Many seniors did not even expect to get a prom at all, so this event certainly holds promise. Our seniors at Air Academy can definitely make the most of it! Despite the many differences from traditional proms in the past, without a doubt, this year’s prom will be just as memorable.

Additionally, Splinder gives insight into the helping hands making this all possible!

“Student council really wants to thank the engineering teacher, Mr. Buhler, for all his help on this prom! We are in charge of basically decorating this whole thing from scratch since we do not have a nice venue this year,” said Splinder, “He’s been working with us every week and using some of his own time and budget to help us design and purchase things for prom this year!

Air Academy high school is making many efforts to make some lasting memories for our seniors. Including prom, other future events are being held for seniors as well! Hopefully, the last of our senior days in high school can be as fun and exciting as possible.