What is a Prom Court? What is the meaning of Prom Court? How should the Prom Court be represented?

These are some of the questions the Prom Committee asked amongst themselves before deciding to try something groundbreaking this year.

In past years, the Prom Coordinator, Ms. Lisa Beth Miller, would create and send out a Google form to all the juniors and seniors. In round one, nominations were open, meaning everyone was invited to nominate a male and a female from their grade level. Afterwards, another list of everyone who was nominated in the junior and senior class was sent out to the respective classes. In this second round, upperclassmen voted for 1 boy and 1 girl to make Prom Court. The top 4 “couples” chosen from senior class and top 3 junior “couples” would then be named as Prom Court. The two seniors, boy and girl, who had the highest number of votes would be announced King and Queen at Prom.

Despite trying a variety of methods (paper ballots, Google forms) to nominate Prom Court, each one had some flaws. 

“I have been organizing Prom for a long time, and I do not think that the “couples court” concept really represented most of the Prom attendees. Court was a collection of longtime couples, which is very nice…but what about the students who choose not to date anyone, date in a non-traditional way, aren’t really allowed to date at all, or just go to Prom with a big group of friends to celebrate and dance? All of those awesome people were sort of excluded from Prom Court. We were choosing to honor people just for being longtime couples, and it seemed really outdated to me. Another issue is the ‘Court Couples’ often fought, broke up, or decided not to go to Prom at all at the last minute. I did not enjoy the task of reconfiguring  the Court due to drama that was beyond anyone’s control,” said Ms. Miller.

The purpose of the new Prom Court concept is to open the court to all interested students and at the same time serve our community.

“Prom Court That Cares” is a concept inspired by my college, Millerville University of Pennsylvania. We used this basic concept to form our Homecoming Court each year,” said Ms. Miller.

“Prom Court That Cares” allows students to form a small group of 2-3 and apply to be on Court, but they must agree to select one charity to support if they wish to participate. 

“The teams can be friends, couples, siblings, or whatever. As long as they care about a cause, they are able to be included! Just to emphasize, we are NOT EXCLUDING COUPLES, we are just welcoming MORE people to the possibility of being on Prom Court,” explained Ms. Miller.

In early March, an announcement will be made telling juniors and seniors that they have one week to sign up with Ms. Miller, room 264, to participate in Prom Court That Cares. During the week of signing up, students need to have their charity selected and approved.

During March, Ms. Miller will meet with participants twice to see how they are progressing on their educational materials about their cause, as they will be required to inform the Liberty community about the cause via posters, pamplets, and/or short videos on the school’s news website.

“Listen for the announcement in early March, but start forming your squad now! It is NOT too early to research charities and causes!” said Ms. Miller.

The week or so before Prom, participants will responsible for educating their fellow classmates and promoting their charity to get the votes. Students can hang signs, give out pamphlets, flyers, and whatever else it takes to inform everyone about their cause. The goal is to get Eagle Nation involved in caring about others in need and supporting good causes.

At the end of that week, on April 17, each junior and senior will vote for a team/cause at the tables by the cafeteria doors with their special voting “token” given to them by their third block teacher the same day. The top vote-getters will walk at Prom, and the winners will be crowned as “Prom Royals.”

A cash donation will then be made to the winning team’s charity. “We will base the exact donation amount on how Prom ticket sales go, but I would like for us to be as generous as possible,” explained Ms. Miller.

“I hope everyone loves this idea and feels empowered to join Prom Court and support an amazing cause!” added Ms. Miller.

If anyone has questions, comments, or concerns, see Ms. Lisa Beth Miller, the Prom Coordinator, in room 264 for more information.