Cancellations after cancellations. 

Due to the current situation of the coronavirus, many events have resulted in being canceled or postponed, such as prom.

After trying to put it off, the prom committee had to call off prom to keep the students safe. This resulted in many students to be upset that they were losing another part of their high school experience. However, the prom committee is doing everything they can to make sure that a prom will take place after social distancing laws are called off. 

Prom was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 21. Megan McConnell, the Junior Class Sponsor, was hoping for prom to still go on, but after the rising risk of COVID-19 started to increase, she wanted the student’s health to be placed before anything else. A week after she called it off, governor Andy Besheer announced bans to large groups of people, so prom wouldn’t even be able to take place if it wasn’t already canceled. 

After hearing that prom was canceled, many students were upset. After already sacrificing their school year and spring sports, some students were discouraged at first. “I was just really upset about all the money me and my mom had spent on everything and all the time I took into getting the perfect dress. And just the seniors who maybe don’t get their senior prom. I know for a lot of juniors it’s something we all really look forward to. Junior year has been hard for everyone and prom was the one thing that kept us going,” said junior Maddy Lawson. 

After giving it more thought, students understood why it was canceled and started to look on the bright side of the situation. “I am losing a lot of moments previous seniors got to experience. However, it’s challenging me to make the most of what I do have, and I am grateful for that,” said senior Sarah Ezell. 

McConnell was discouraged at first as well, after all of the hard work her and the prom committee put into the event. “I was very upset for the students when prom had to be postponed because I know how much it means to them. I felt like my time had been wasted in planning but I was more focused on the bigger picture and the health/well being of everyone, specifically our students. I am discouraged that we will have to start basically from scratch for Prom but our vendors have been flexible and I think our students will come back and be even more willing to help and inspired to get involved,” said McConnell. 

However, McConnell is doing everything she can to make sure that prom will happen after it is safe to hold large events. She does not know much, but it would be different from the original plan, different venue, different date, different theme. “As of right now, I do not know much about the future of prom. Until we have a date that school is back in session, I have been advised to not make plans or book a venue. However, I plan on doing everything in my power to assure that prom will happen,” said McConnell.

Some students have already started backing up McConnell and are looking forward to the new prom, even if it isn’t as big as the original plan. “To be completely honest, whenever prom does happen, I think it will be so much better. It may not have the best venue, I mean we may even be in the CCC gym, but I truly believe that we will all appreciate simply being together so much more that it’ll make for even better memories. Outside of prom, this has affected my, and my classmates, senior years drastically. We really have become such a close knit class this year and none of us were expecting everything to so abruptly come to an end,” said senior Meredith Bass. 

McConnell advises students to be excited and to look on the bright side of the situation. She hopes more students will chip in and help get involved with the prom planning process when we are back in school.