As the second semester flies by, we are beginning to approach most upperclassmen’s favorite time of year: Prom. With the current pandemic, Huntley High School hasn’t seen a normal Prom in two years. With last year’s Senior Soiree, the Student Council hosted a night of shows, raffles, picture opportunities, and dinner. Although this opportunity was great at the time, it was not the typical night those students were expecting. This has left current seniors wondering what this year will hold.

At the moment, there has been no information sent out to the upperclassmen regarding any update on Prom. As the event is two months away, students have been eagerly waiting for the announcement.

“I am getting a little anxious about not hearing about it,” senior Dani Kuusisto said. “We have not gotten any information and honestly all I know about is the date and place.”

After speaking with members and staff of the Student Council, the only “set-in-stone” details they have is the date and location of the Prom. 

At this time, Prom will be held on Saturday, April 30, at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont. 

With this news, current seniors have been full of hope that our Prom night will be just as it used to be. 

“I want Prom to be as close to a normal Prom that we can get,” senior Jayden Smith said. 

With the current adaptations regarding mask usage in school, we are left with many questions with regard to the limitations the dance will have in place. Will we have to wear masks? Will we have to social distance from others? Are guests allowed?

“I suspect Prom being a normal event,” principal Marcus Belin said. “As of right now, I don’t foresee us doing what we did last year, there’s no reason for us to do it.”

According to Belin, all current juniors and seniors will be able to attend Prom, while ticket supply lasts. Guests from other schools will be allowed to attend, per usual.

This exciting news will be sure to please many, but may also leave others disagreeing. But, as mandates and guidance begin to disappear in the state of Illinois, there aren’t any current guidelines stating we can’t have an indoor event. 

We are beginning to move toward a sense of normalcy, as masks are becoming more optional in indoor locations within the state.

“If anything, unless a mask mandate is imposed, if we’re still ‘mask-optional’, people will just make a choice on what they want to do,” Belin said. “Even if masks are gone, there will probably still be people who will wear masks.”

Being at school daily and constantly being in contact with our peers, I believe it would only make sense to have a normal Prom – dancing and all. We are allowed to be with our friends during lunch with no masks or distancing. Classrooms are rarely following the CDC and HHS guidelines in regards to social distancing. Guidelines are diminishing daily. With such little enforcement in the school currently, it would be contradictory to have so many rules set in place for one night – just to go back to school the following Monday to be around our friends with no limits. 

The Class of 2022 especially has missed out on so many important milestones in their high school careers; it would be an extreme disappointment to lose a night that most have been dreaming of since freshman year. 

“I will state that we will take every safety precaution necessary,” Belin said. “Everybody has a story- there are reasons people have on masks, there are health concerns, it’s real for a lot of people. I don’t want people to miss out on an experience of Prom because we don’t do what we need to do as a school to make sure we’re being safe.”