Student Executive Council details prom planning process

Student+Executive+Council+details+prom+planning+process

Gunn鈥檚 annual junior and senior prom will be hosted at the Exploratorium on April 22. The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology and art located in San Francisco, with exhibits centered around guest participation.

Student Activities Director Lisa Hall expects this year鈥檚 prom to be more popular due to the interactive activities聽 which include creating giant bubbles, playing with sand on a rotating table and walking on a footbridge covered in fog鈥攖hat the venue offers. 鈥淎 lot of (students) are interested in more of the kinds of scientific or explorative exhibits that the Exploratorium has,鈥 she said. 鈥淪tudents who might not otherwise attend prom if it was just a dinner (are) more likely to go because there are other activities that they can participate in.鈥

Hall also noted changes regarding COVID-19 guidelines. 鈥淟ast year, we required (participants) to have copies of vaccines and boosters before being able to go to prom,鈥 she said.鈥淭his year, that isn鈥檛 a requirement.鈥 With these changes in mind, Dance Commissioner senior Adele Davis still expects the prom experience to be similar to that of previous years. 鈥淧eople expect the same things from prom every year, so as long as we stick to tradition, they鈥檙e going to be pretty happy about it,鈥 she said. 鈥淏esides the location, everyone still goes on buses (and) there will be the same kind of food, so not many things have changed.鈥

鈥淪tudents who might not otherwise attend prom if it was just a dinner (are) more likely to go because there鈥檚 other activities that they can participate in.鈥

— Student Activities Director Lisa Hall

The process that goes into selecting prom locations begins long before the start of the school year. 鈥淎bout two years in advance, we start looking at venues,鈥 Hall said. 鈥淲e work with an event planner who helps us choose some locations, and we try to rotate them just because the large majority of our juniors and our seniors attend prom both years.鈥

After that, Student Executive Council members narrow down the selections. 鈥淲e bring in the dance commissioner and all of our current juniors and sophomores鈥攎aybe freshmen if it鈥檚 way far out鈥攖o choose which of these locations fit our needs,鈥 Hall said. Davis elaborated upon the venue booking process. 鈥淭he reason that the venues are considered and booked so far in advance is because of how competitive the bookings can become,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here are a bunch of schools in the same area all trying to get the same venues. The sooner you choose which one you would like to be at, then it鈥檚 more likely that they are actually available on the weekend and time you want.

Junior Angeline Hu is looking forward to this year鈥檚 prom. 鈥淚 plan to just hang out with my friends,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I do at most dances鈥攔un around and talk to a lot of people. I think that鈥檒l be pretty fun.鈥