For the first time in history the students of Scotland High School elected a prom king and queen at this year’s edition of the annual spring fete.
SHS seniors Dylan Williams and Larcenia Easterling were crowned king and queen during the “Midnight in Paris” themed celebration, put on recently by the school’s junior class.
More than 480 attended prom 2012, which, in another event first, was held off campus at The Highlands building in Laurinburg.
The changes, said prom planning committee faculty adviser and SHS administrator Amber Watkins, were all motivated by feedback from the student body.
“The students just wanted to have it at a location off campus this year,” said Watkins, adding that the move had some novelty value for students who wanted “something different from the commons area (where prom has been held in the past).”
And, while the students did also decide to vote on a king and queen, they also devised a method to creatively avoid the typical “popularity contest” aspect of voting, said Watkins.
Each member of the SHS senior class was invited to nominate someone for prom king and queen, and from those nominations eight finalists were randomly selected for both roles.
“We didn’t let anyone know who the eight (finalists) were until the night of prom,” said Watkins.
The prom-night reveal added intrigue, but it also kept the nominees from having to participate in a drawn out campaigning process, like the one associated with the school’s homecoming queen election process.
On prom night the students cast their ballots, choosing from the eight finalists, and following two hours of open voting, the coronation took place.
“Everyone really seemed to enjoy the way that whole process went,”said Alford, referring to both the crowning of king and queen as well as to the off-site prom festivities, which she expects will be repeated in 2013.
“We had a lot of fun,” said prom guest Kierra Paca, who took a break from dancing to sit with friend Brianna Brown, who also approved of the changes.
“The whole night was great, and the (Highlands) was a good place for prom to be held,” said Brown.
The result of what Watkins called a “year-round planning process,” the vision of this year’s prom started to come together around December, when the prom student planning committee began to meet.
Prom planning culminated with the installation of theme props, including replica Eiffel towers, early on prom-Saturday morning.
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