By Kate Warner
After months of hunting for the perfect dress, searching for the courage to ask the right girl, and agonizing over shoes, hair styles or whether or not you date will make you wear hot pink, Prom has once more come to Lake Orion High School.
It should be the night to remember, the night when every girl is Kate and every boy is William, in their mother’s eyes at least. Through all the glitz and expectation however, what does prom really mean to the students of Lake Orion though and any of us that, as we see the crammed florists and the procession of limousines, think back on our own prom night. Is it truly the best night in High School , or perhaps just a chance to have some fun, or is there more to Prom than that?
My own Prom was three years ago I didn’t buy a dress or get my hair done; in fact I spent the whole night waiting for the moment when life would become a fairy tale as it did so often in the movies. I, however, was not swept of my feet by my crush or miraculously crowned Prom queen. It was a fun night with my friends and apparently nothing more.
This year my little sister attended the Lake Orion High School Prom and I was the head of her prom committee. In the weeks running up to the big night, my sister approached me about doing her hair for Prom. I am not great shakes at hair styling but I am an older sister and thus I accepted the task. Soon I found myself scanning the web for tutorials while I should have been studying for my impending finals. For some reason the perfecting of a hair style became far more important than school work – this was serious!
Finally the night had arrived and as I pinned the last curl in place I stepped back and smiled. Through all the practicing and planning I had spent more time with my sister in the past few weeks that I did the preceding month, prom had brought us together. I watched as I transformed a self-conscious young girl into someone who believed in herself – she was beautiful.
The sound of the doorbell awoke me from my reverie and she was off like a shot. Her friends had arrived; I was big sis once more. I flitted around taking pictures and I saw the same transformation in each of the faces smiling at me through the lens. What grades they had didn’t matter or whether they had a date or not, there was a timid confidence laced into the hairspray and lip gloss. For a night they were accepted without question into something special.
Prom may not be the story book ending to the horrors of High School or even the best night on the year. To me prom is a chance to come together with people you normally wouldn’t spend time with. I provide opportunities to reconnect with members of your families.
Above all however it’s a celebration of self. For all those girls that don’t fit the conventional mold and all those boys who feel like they will never be good enough, it is a night to celebrate what makes you beautiful. Sure it may seem shallow that the right hairdo or dress can make a difference, but high school is a trying time. For some (and I would have counted myself in this category) it can be hard to find beauty or worth within yourself. Prom is a chance for the community to recognize the beauty within the high school students, the good students and the bad, the athletes and the thespians.
Last Friday Lake Orion High School celebrated individuality, caring, intellect and the fire with in each student that can be ignited by seeing beauty in one ‘s self. So to all of you who attended Prom be it last Friday of fifty years ago I, urge you to practice inclusion and celebrate beauty, in all its forms.