Lights, Music, Prom: How Prom Came to Life

Lights, Music, Prom: How Prom Came to Life

When eleventh and twelfth grade students walked into Hopkins’ Hollywood themed Prom on June 2, they saw the curated centerpieces and red carpet beckoning them into the venue. Each item was designed and set up by the Hopkins Prom Committee, better known as PromCom, a team of nine students who deal with the logistics of setting up Prom so that it is enjoyable for every attendee. 

Often the first thing that PromCom discusses is the theme of the dance itself. Natalie Billings ’27, a member of PromCom, shares that “we decided this year’s theme right before March break,” and that this year’s theme, Hollywood, mixed “ideas from the seniors who were on PromCom last year with the ideas of new members.” PromCom members want to ensure that the theme is both “interesting, while also still affordable and within our budget,” according to Rebecca Spiewak ’27, also a member of PromCom. Part of deciding on the theme comes from “looking on social media at other school’s proms for inspiration,” Billings adds. 

After deciding on the theme, the next step PromCom members focus on is finding decorations and designing the dance. “We use Pinterest to find new ideas for decorations, like for centerpieces or the dining areas,” Laila Rivera-Good ’27, a committee member, shares. Billings mentions that when looking for decorations, Promcom members look online and start “gathering links, to make sure [they] keep track of the decorations [they] want” or decorations that can be made by the members themselves. Billings believes that the venue also “dictates how much decoration [PromCom] can do,” as there also needs to be space for tables and room to dance. Outside of smaller decorations, PromCom likes to incorporate “a few larger pieces that make Prom even more memorable,” Spiewak adds, such as “a photo booth or even a red carpet this year, to match the Hollywood theme.” Additionally, PromCom members themselves are usually “the ones who decorate the venue” so they like to keep in mind “how much time it will take to set everything up, and also what is actually possible” in terms of decorations, Billings states.

However, setting up Prom requires a lot of logistical planning outside of buying decorations. One of the main traditions used to fund buying Prom decorations is Hire-A-Senior, where underclassmen can hire a senior to do things for them like follow them around for the day or buy them food. Billings shares that “this is one of the main things PromCom focuses on outside of planning decorations.” Another concern PromCom runs into is seating charts: “the amount of people sitting at a table controls what decorations we can have as centerpieces. We want to add enough so that Prom doesn’t just feel like a dinner, but not so many [decorations] that people can’t see each other,” Spiewak shares. Rivera-Good adds, “people also spend a while figuring out who they want to sit with– their date or their friends” which is another factor PromCom has to consider when designing the layout of Prom. Spiewak believes that the dinner layout also constricts how Prom can be set up: “if there’s a buffet, we can have decorations around the food, but if [students] are choosing their meals ahead of time, we have to consider how decorations” might become obstacles. 

The hoodie design is also decided on by PromCom. Every year, there’s usually “one person who designs the hoodie,” Billings says. This person accounts for “the theme, which is always the most [distinctive] part of the hoodie, along with fun details like the date of Prom itself,” Spiewak adds. This year, the hoodie was a separate purchase from the actual Prom ticket, giving students more optionality when it comes to buying the hoodie. Having unique Prom hoodies for each year remains another important tradition at Hopkins. “My favorite hoodie so far is the [Prom 2024] hoodie, which is bright pink and follows the Mean Girls theme. I think it’s fun to see the different Prom hoodies around campus, ” Sophia dos Santos ’27 shares.

Although students only see the final, finished decorations on the night of Prom, PromCom puts in months of planning to help create a memorable experience, that, in Good’s opinion makes the work invaluable: “I think that watching everything come together for this one night where everyone gets together will make all of the meetings and planning worth it.”