A Night Among The Stars: Prom 2018

   Prom is the highlight of the year for many students of Pahrump Valley High School. While most students have been worrying about their dresses, tuxes, or after-party plans for the past few months, the Junior Student Council having been putting in hours of work to plan the dance to make this the night of every student’s life.

   The junior class has worked furiously at planning events and fundraisers to have the biggest budget possible for the night. Fundraising began at the end of their sophomore year by selling water at graduation and continued on throughout this year. One of the most profitable fundraisers of the year was the selling of rose grams during the Valentine’s Day season.

  Each year, Student Council has to come up with two prom themes that will be cost-effective, unique, and have the student body engaged. For the longest time it was a battle between the themes “Ancient Greece” and “Festival Season,” but with Greece being extremely expensive and Festival having very little decoration variety, two brand new themes were chosen at the last minute.

   The themes were narrowed down to “the 1920s” and “A Night Among the Stars.” The 1920s was an extremely popular choice with the student body. Many expressed their deep love with the aesthetics of that era, and StuCo members leaned towards it as the prom venue already had a classical feel to it. Many girls dreamed of dressing as a flapper girl, a short and fringe dress style of woman of that day, and men had their eye caught on being a Gatsby look-alike, a classic character from the novel The Great Gatsby, that was based in that era.

  As a voting system, two buckets were decorated to match the themes, where students could donate to the bucket of the theme they preferred. Donations could range from 1 penny to a thousand dollars if the student wished. During the entire fundraiser, “the 1920s” was winning by a long shot, but on the very last day, a senior put in just enough money for “A Night Among the Stars” to win. The senior wanted to wear Star Wars Jedi robes to prom, and with the Stars winning, he was allowed to.

   To announce the rules of the event to the students, juniors and seniors skipped their fourth period to watch a prom fashion show during late March. The show revealed the theme and conveyed what was appropriate for the students to wear. Tickets initially went on sale after the event, and began at $30 for a single and $50 for a couple. It is always best to buy during the first week to avoid high prices, as the tickets were raised up $10 every week afterwards.

   The theme was centered around a galaxy aesthetic, with stars and milky ways covering the walls. A projector was set up to play a video of the Earth rotating on the dining room wall, while strobe lights were littered across the dance floor. The event was formal attire only, as students finally had the chance to dress up.

   The event was hosted at the Mountain Falls clubhouse for a variety of reasons. The location was trustworthy because the school has used it a few times before, and the scenery is very beautiful compared to some of the other places around town. Mountain Falls was in our price range, and in a town such as Pahrump, there is not a lot of variety to choose from.

Mountain Falls provided a catering service for the event. It was served buffet style with items such as small wraps, chicken tenders, cheese and crackers, and mac and cheese balls. Drinks included water, lemonade, and a blue drink that many described as a “melted otter pop” or a “jolly rancher.” Students continually returned throughout the night for more food, and two hours in, desserts such as cookies and brownies were brought out for the attendees.

   A tradition of every prom is to crown the king and queen. Slips were handed out prior to event to narrow the choices to 5 senior boys and 5 senior girls. Final voting was at the entrance of the event, with students being able to put gems in the jar of who they voted. At 9:30, everyone crowded around the dancefloor to see the royalty. After much suspense Taylor Gent and Sara Gibbs were both crowned.

  Judy Maughan, a local professional photographer, was on the back patio if any students wished pay for pictures, with a galaxy backdrop placed to match the scene. But most students opted to show up early and take their own pictures in front of the golf course scenery. Once in the event, students were not allowed to leave the patio for pictures, unless one of the chaperones went with them.

   As the students left the event, a table was set up so students could grab their tickets, and a souvenir of the event, a star keychain. Shelbie Lucas, Junior Officer, stated,  “I wanted to make this night as magical for us as it is for the student body.” Prom ended without any disturbances and all students had a great night.