Prom is officially happening! Parents, teachers, and students have been hard at work planning out what prom and post-prom will look like this year with the unusual circumstances. Many students already have their date, prom group, and are getting their outfits ready for the big day, but many still are wondering “how is this going to be pulled off in a fun and safe way?”
Well, first of all, masks are going to be required at everything: Grand March, the dance, and post-prom. Each couple will receive four vouchers for the Grand March and a number when they pick up their tickets. This will help keep people more spaced out and not being so cramped into the SpartanDome for all 100+ couples. As of now, the plan is to have multiple groups for Grand March, with different time slots to help decrease the amount of people in the Dome for a long period of time.
“Basically, when you buy your ticket to the Grand March you’ll get a number for
your couple and the groups are based off of numbers. For example, numbers 1-20 will be at 6:30 and 21-40 are at 6:40 and so on,” said junior Lainy Latunski, who is on the prom committee.
Otherwise, the Grand March will occur as normally as possible, with the exception of everyone wearing masks while in line. The couples will be allowed to take their masks off while walking or just at the photo spots if that is preferred.
The dance will be held in the Fitness Center from 8:00p.m. to 10:30 p.m.. Masks will be required and temperatures will be taken before entering. If you plan on going out to eat before the dance, there will be a system to write down everyone who is in your group for contact tracing purposes.
Following the dance will be Post-Prom at the NDSU Memorial Union. This will begin around 10:30 p.m. and go until 3 a.m… If you’ve never been to the Memorial Union before, this is a fun recreational area with bowling, pool tables, air hockey, and more! There will be great prizes given out at the end of the night, so it will be in your best interest to stay for it all. Some prizes that have been given away in the past include concert tickets, TVs, and gift cards. Masks again will be required at this event, but otherwise everything will be happening as normal!
Students are strongly encouraged to know who their prom group will be, so that they can write down their names when buying tickets. This will greatly help with ensuring safety and hopefully no COVID-19 breakouts will happen.
More information will be found on the bulletin boards next to the Spartan Mart as more is finalized. Tickets for prom can be bought through Della in the office: $25 per couple or $12.50 for individual tickets. Remember to get detentions cleared out of the way before you try to buy your tickets!
Though the pandemic still exists and masks are mandated, it is very exciting that “normal” activities like prom are finally happening again. Hopefully as cases can continue to decrease and more people get vaccinated, things will return back to normal very soon.