Prom season is almost upon us and the prom planning committee here at East has been hard at work to make sure things go smoothly. Made up of the junior class representatives – President Cooper Penkava, Vice President Kirby Le, and Treasurer Ella Swank – and East teachers – Brittany Wach and Anne Daly – the planning committee for this year’s prom is doing their best to ensure a fun and safe prom experience for this year’s junior and senior classes.

Anne Daly is one of the main teachers in charge of planning for prom this year. She has planning prior East proms and knows the process and all of it’s ins and outs. She has been working on planning this year’s prom since right after last year’s prom. For her, it’s a never ending cycle of prom and prom planning.

“[It takes] a year, honestly, we start we like book a place and a DJ a week to two weeks after the last prom happened. So we have that going right away just so we have a place. Realistically, then, the following prom year, we usually start in September just going and making sure that things are in motion” Daly said.

During this year long process, Daly deals with booking venues and staff for this memorable event. Like any planning process, prom is no exception to having issues arise. Between covid, students, and time, the planning process has to deal with many obstacles as she try to make a night students will remember.

“Covid has been a huge inconvenience for all for numerous reasons… [and] prom was not an exception. Just like everything, prom is a little bit harder than it should be. Everythings a little more complicated,” Daly said. “One of our biggest issues is a lot of the stuff can’t be done really until that month and the week before. You can’t do royalty until so close, you can’t do selling the tickets until so close, you can’t decorate until the morning of. So there’s a lot of things that really have to get done.”

With all the issues that arise, it’s important to have a good team in charge of planning. Daly, Wach, and the team of juniors involved in this year’s planning play a crucial role in making sure prom goes the on without a hitch.

Daly said, “Myself and Ms. wach plan for prom. Ms Cassata is our admin that works with us also. And then we work with the junior class representatives and so it’s usually the Jr class president, Vice president, treasurer and then they usually try to get a team.”

Prom is one of only two school dances that LPS sponsors – the other being Homecoming – so there is a lot of pressure to make this a good experience for the juniors and seniors in attendance. Every year the junior class plans prom for the year, this is because prom is seen as a sort of “gift” to the senior class from the juniors.

“They want it being hosted for the seniors” Daly said.

Though planning prom can be stressful, Daly enjoys the stress and the exhilaration of the process. Not everyone is up to the task of planning one of the most important events in a student’s high school experience, but Daly is and she does a great job at making sure that prom fits the high expectations of East students.

Daly said, “It’s so much fun… It’s a good stress… People always said ‘if you weren’t teaching what would you do’ I would would love to do party planning and event planning… Planning prom is literally like planning a slightly less stressful wedding.”