Of all the disappointments inflicted upon high school students during this spring of the coronavirus, the loss of prom night is among the cruelest of blows.
The rite of passage enjoyed by generations of upperclassmen is not to be for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 this prom season. Area high schools have canceled or postponed their junior and senior proms until summer. And those postponed may yet be cancelled, depending on the virulence of COVID-19.
At least one local high school, however, will hold its prom as scheduled on Saturday, albeit with some technological adjustments.
Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s “Prom 2020: A Treasured Night” will feature all the usual trappings of prom – photos of students dressed to the nines, music, dancing, the crowning of the prom queen and king, and revelers socializing with friends and classmates.
But it won’t take place in the stylish Revel Fulton Market in the West Loop as originally planned, or the Field Museum where it sparkled last year.
Instead of riding with their prom dates in a limousine or party bus to a glittering venue, H-F students will attend prom by staying at home and use their computers, cell phones or other devices to connect with the school’s virtual prom party.
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Principal Jerry Lee Anderson decided in March to organize H-F’s virtual prom while reading a journal article about groups planning them across the country, she said.
“I was thinking about what my students are going through; it’s like going through mourning,” Anderson said. “The disbelief, the anger and the acceptance.
“They’ve been working on the idea of going to prom and looked forward to it. I can’t do that right now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do something. Let’s try something to bring a little joy into our lives, into our homes, and have a little fun.”
Anderson enlisted H-F’s broadcasting and film teachers and prom faculty sponsor to help her make the virtual prom a reality. The four met weekly via video conferencing since early April.
Broadcasting teacher Mark Ciesielski will work at H-F’s radio station, WHFH 88.5 FM, on prom night, acting as DJ during the two-hour multimedia get-together.
“I’ll be playing music, taking phone calls and music requests and streaming video through vikingtelevision.com and the school’s website,” he said. The school’s junior class put together the playlist of more than 100 “school-appropriate” songs.
Ciesielski also will announce the prom queen, king and members of the court. Students have been voting for their choices online. The newly coronated royal couple will also be interviewed.
“We know it’s not what the kids really want,” Ciesielski said. “Obviously, they were looking forward to the prom, getting dressed up and getting together with all their friends. It’s a rite of passage. But we want to give them something to remember and are doing our best to make it fun for them.”
Matt Holdren, H-F’s film teacher, will collaborate with Ciesielski on prom night, keeping their recommended distance. His role is to monitor the event’s Twitter hashtag, #HFprom2020, and share its messages.
Prom stay-at-homers are encouraged to tweet comments and photos or send video of themselves clad in all their finery.
“We’re expecting the kids already have outfits and will dress up and check out their friends that they haven’t seen in six weeks at this point,” Holdren said. He also anticipates sharing videos of students dancing, whether alone or with a family member.
Like Ciesielski and Principal Anderson, Holdren is happy to do his bit to produce a virtual prom for students locked out of their school since its shutdown on March 13. “We started brainstorming ideas of what we could pull off for these kids so we can celebrate them,” he said.
“My goal since last August was how to deliver the best experience we can for the students,” said prom faculty sponsor Matt Knoepke, who teaches AP biology. He coordinates H-F’s prom every year with the junior class government.
But that was before the global health and economic crisis changed everything.
“We’ve put together the best experience for the kids we can give them, under the circumstance, Knoepke said. “I wish things were different for them, but I know they will make this the best experience that they can, and we’re here to help them do that.”
“This whole situation we’re in is what we make of it,” Principal Anderson said. “It’s up to us to make the best of it.”
And her plans for prom night? “I’m going to be listening just like everybody else,” she replied. “I absolutely bought my prom dress. I’m going to get all my family together.
“There are so many things to be sad about right now that we need something we can be happy about. We need something to bring us a little joy. We’ll enjoy good music, be at home, make our own dinner and hors d’oeuvres. We’re just going to make it a fun night. I think it will be great.”
Anderson knows H-F’s virtual prom can’t replace the real thing but decided against delaying the actual one after reviewing the White House Guidelines for “Opening up America Again,” she said.
“We are nowhere near meeting the gating criteria” for relaxing precautions against transmission of coronavirus. “I don’t want to promise something I can’t deliver.”
Elsewhere in the Southland, Bremen High School District 228’s Tinley Park, Oak Forest, Bremen and Hillcrest high schools “will hold proms in the summer months if it is safe to do so,” stated a letter to students and parents updated April 21. Each school will provide more information when and if a date can be confirmed.
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 cancelled prom for all three high schools.
Sandburg High School in Orland Park would have held prom on April 24, but postponed it until May 17 and moved it again, to July 20. “We are now working to confirm a July date, but it has not been confirmed yet,” Principal Gregory Gardner said. “We have a few options/dates and are trying to determine the best one for us.”
One family took prom night into their own hands. Sarah Meier, of Oak Forest, was downcast when Sandburg postponed its prom that was set for April 24, her grandmother, Rose, related.
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That Friday morning, Tom Meier, Sarah’s father, pulled up to their home in his truck, decorated with balloons and posters, inviting her to accompany him to his first prom, having not attended his own senior prom.
“She ran from the house and hugged him in tears,” Rose said. “That night, they both dressed up, Sarah dressed in her prom dress. Photos were taken, just as they would have had the prom taken place.”
“Then they danced the night away in the family room, with Sarah declared prom queen,” Rose added. Her elder sister donned her old prom dress and the family danced and sang for hours.
“Had Tom and wife, Sharon, not taken the initiative to recreate a prom for Sarah, she might have spent the night sadly sulking or in tears,” Rose said. “Maybe other families can see this and have prom night at home.”
Jack Murray is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.