Tahlia Scherer, Features Editor
@tscherercourant
Isabella Madrid, News Editor
@imadridcourant
Prom is a rite of passage for all high schoolers. Yet, the event has proven to be far more of a stressor than a celebration. Why?
The months preceding this fateful night are defined by distress over dresses, social strains over dates and tables and even the pressures of promposals. Buried by underneath the turmoil of preparations, it seems high schoolers lose sight of prom’s true meaning.
Social Strains
What many consider the most stressful part of prom is finding a date. In a social climate deeply divided by gender and cliques, finding a date is terrifying. Daring to transcend pre existing – yet unspoken – social rules, is a challenge many elect not to partake in.
More than finding the date is deciding when best to text them, if even at all. Breaking that barrier of communication in order to coordinate may well be the worst part.
Prom elucidates the social realities of our high school.
Distress over the Dress:
An uninspiring December night, without warning, becomes possibly one of the worst nights in junior year. A dangerous notification pops up at the top of your phone screen: “nchspromdress2025 requested to follow you on Instagram”.
But prom is in 4 months … or so you thought. In reality, prom begins months before.
Checking the account opens a portal into a new dimension: a world of ruching and ribbons, and sequins and straps (or not). An array of colorful dresses becomes all-consuming, and the more you look, the deeper you fall into the bottomless pit that is prom dresses.
Creating a pinterest board doesn’t help your cause, rather, it fosters your new obsession, leading you to offhandedly pick the first dress you like, and DM it to the Instagram account. In 2 weeks you don’t even like the dress anymore. In three, you despise it.
Girls scroll through the account passing judgements on each anonymous frock. You can only hope your dress won’t be scrutinized, or worse, the butt of someone’s joke.
Appointment Anxiety:
Hair? Nails? Tans? Facials? Eyebrow Waxings? (ouch!)
A frenzy of appointment booking, not to mention expenses!
All for one night. Waste or worth it?
Ticket Tensions:
The email appears in your inbox. Prom tickets are available on Myschoolbucks.com, but the hefty 85$ plus convenience fee and tax are a pretty penny. Do you finesse the date to pay for you? Do you split both ways? Or if you are bringing an out of towner, do you have to drop 170 dollars on both? Is it inappropriate to hit the venmo request? So many questions, not as many answers.
Promposal Pressure:
Okay. You have a date, you have a dress, but surprise the stressors don’t end there. It’s time for the promposal. Now depending on if your date is also a junior at NCHS or is not, the girl may have to prompose. Treacherous. First is coming up with the saying, do you want it to be name themed? Sport themed? So many options, but no good ones. Finally, you come to a mediocre string of words and ideally buy a poster from CVS and grind away for an hour making the sign. Then you muster up the courage to go to their house and prepare for the dreaded side hug.
Photo Phobias:
As the big day approaches, we all know too well that it isn’t the dance that is the big event, it’s the pre-prom. Number 1 concern: who’s hosting it? Quite an undertaking, but a staple. Will my friend group be invited to the big pre-prom or do we have to congregate at a smaller one? Once the above concerns have been addressed, come social standard questions. Do I take pictures one on one with my date? If I look good in said pictures, can I post them even if we are not dating? Or is that social suicide?
