Picture this. You’re a high school student in the midst of a global pandemic. Your main concerns are likely about your future and doing well in school, not about the prom at the end of the year. Though the joy found in school life can seem smaller because of our hopes and fears about the future, this shouldn’t stop us from making the memories that are paramount to the high school experience. Though teachers have always helped organize and fundraise for prom in the past, that system can’t work forever. A student-run prom committee is more sustainable–an idea bank that refreshes every year as they come and go, providing a way to amplify student preferences for prom at DIS. 

Prom committee supervisor Mrs. Gum explained: “The reason prom keeps coming up year after year is because for those of us who had a strong tradition of dances in our schools when we were younger, it’s always been really fun and memorable.” As it’s a defining moment of the high school experience, people look upon prom fondly. 

Prom is held at the end of the school year, but that doesn’t mean that the prom committee is just waiting for the event to happen. Apart from planning the actual party itself, the club fundraises in order to make the event happen. From October 18th to the 29th, the committee will be selling snacks after school–all profits will go toward making prom better than ever before.

Betty, a junior in the prom committee, is excited to revitalize this tradition: “Because of COVID, our school hasn’t had any events that we can be excited about. Prom would give the school the excitement and the [lively] atmosphere that it needs. As an international school that follows a U.S. curriculum, I think culture at DIS is more Americanized. Without prom, it doesn’t really have a center in that culture.”

Though the school hasn’t held the event in years, this isn’t the first time DIS is hosting a prom. The creation of the new prom committee is allowing for a much needed prom comeback, with more student direction than ever. Mrs. Gum finds the students’ fresh input “invaluable.” She’s adamant that committee members get even more involved: “I feel like it needs to be in the hands of the students much more than it is right now. If the club is set up and continued through the years, I feel good about starting a tradition. Since it’s our first year, it’s important for us to really try and get this right,” she explained.

This year is going to be tougher to plan out, since at the moment it seems like eating, drinking, and other close-contact activities are going to be prohibited. But the prom committee has real drive – the ambition and direction that Mrs. Gum and the committee members boast is of the essence for prom’s exciting return. By bringing back an iconic annual dance, DIS is sure to rekindle school spirit and immortalize the best of our memories.