SHS 2023 prom was held at the Wilma on April 29th and had quite the feedback from staff and students. Prom is an event for students to connect with each other outside of the school setting and have fun before it’s the end of the school year. This event comes with lots of preparation for most students and is the peak of the school year for some. 

Prom includes so much excitement including: Students can have someone to be their date and  ask each other with fun poster board signs, along with purchasing fun outfits and collaborating with each other to form groups. Prom is an opportunity for you and your friends to dress up, go out to dinner and dance. Another great part about SHS prom is that students are able to bring a date from another local school as long as permission slips are signed. This is such a great addition if a student has a friend from another school that they want to take to prom. 

SHS is so fortunate to be able to rent out a building as cool as the Wilma theater in downtown Missoula along with being able to hire a DJ. After speaking to Mrs. Potchak, a teacher at SHS who assists prom and helps hugely; she mentioned that next year’s prom has a chance of taking place in a different building. There are a few ideas of where and the thought behind it is that Juniors that will be seniors next year will have a chance to experience prom in a different location rather than holding prom at the Wilma theater for another year. 

Students and staff’s opinions and feedback from this year’s prom vary widely but for the most part people who went said that prom could have been better. Many mentioned that the grand march seemed to go by way too fast, ticket prices were too expensive and that the DJ didn’t listen to students’ song recommendations. Teachers from SHS that were present at prom also complained that the DJ’s choices of songs to play were too explicit and were not school appropriate at all. 

After speaking with Lily Mchood, a senior at SHS, she said that her favorite part about prom this year was the fact that so many people showed up and it was a variety of students. Though she did mention that the music played by the DJ was hard to dance to and she didn’t know a lot of the songs. Along with lots of other students’ opinions, they had just wished the DJ had played more throwbacks and songs that most of the students know the lyrics to. After speaking with a student that came from another local high school they said that they enjoyed seeing everyone dressed up and dancing in the mosh pit but, on the other hand they said that they didn’t enjoy how hot it was in the Wilma theater.  

Though there was slight negative feedback regarding the music played, teachers said students behaved great and everything stayed according to plan. For the most part, people seemed to have really great prom and with the help from many teachers including Mrs. Moser and Mrs. Potchak, the 2023 prom was a success!