What’s the Word: Prom night is one to remember
Since this reporter/photographer covered the 2003 Warren County High School Prom Friday night, I thought it might be appropriate to devote my column to one of the preeminent chapters in the overall high school experience — the senior prom.
Next to the actual graduation ceremony, the prom is probably the most memorable event in the careers of most high school students. It is as much a rite of passage as graduation is, a once in a lifetime event that, for the majority of us, will never be forgotten.
Of course some will be quick to point out that many students, and non-students for that matter, may actually attend more than one senior prom. I remember a girl at my high school who attended the senior prom all four years she was in school, going as the date of one senior or another each year.
But, as I remember, even she said none of those were as exciting as her own senior prom, and rightfully so. There can only be one of those. One special night to share with fellow seniors, friends and sweethearts. One night to go to your very own senior prom, to experience the glamour, the camaraderie, the melange of light and sound and music as you twirl across the floor in the arms of that special someone, well aware that your life will never be quite the same.
It is very much a celebration of childhood’s end. The conclusion of the high school years marks a major transition in today’s society. While many will move on to college and continue their education, many others will move into the workplace. In either case, they will be considered adults at that point by most of society, even though they may not take on that legal status until they are 21.
Some may even marry and begin a family, and even though taking on that responsibility at such a tender age is not as accepted in today’s society as it was in the past, it is still quite common.
In any case, the carefree freedom of youth and childhood is gone. The world becomes a different place. The specter of responsibility and providing for oneself looms on the horizon.
And let’s face it, the senior prom is the last big major kickin’ all-out party before all that happens.
That feeling was certainly evident in the crowd that filled the festively decorated Civic Center Friday. Everyone there definitely came to have fun and enjoy one of the final celebrations of their high school years.
They came to explore the memories and friendships formed over the previous four years of their lives. And they came to make memories. Memories they could savor and treasure as they tread down the long corridor of adulthood.
And they did so with a generous measure of goodhearted goodwill they can all be proud of when they think back on a Friday night in 2003.
This reporter was certainly impressed with their aplomb and good spirits. What started out as a job became a fun evening as the students openhandedly invited me into their celebration.
There was not one rude word spoken to me all night. Every student I encountered was friendly, polite and respectful, taking the time to spell out their names for me and even writing them down themselves when the music was too loud for me to hear them.
It was their night to shine, and as far as I’m concerned, shine they did. In all their glittering finery they were handsome and beautiful in more ways than one.
For those who wonder what’s wrong with kids today, after last Friday night I think I have an answer for them, my answer anyway.
Nothing. Nothing at all.
(Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)