By Pauline Miller
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“Girls, the prom is a long ways away, stop talking about it,” teacher John Kavalos joked with his studio art class at Princeton High School on one of the first days of school. And, however ridiculous it may have seemed for him to say that at the start of the school year, there’s no doubt that the upcoming prom is the most talked-about topic amongst juniors and seniors right now.
One of the biggest talking points is not, however, who will ask whom, but rather how they are going to go about asking. From flowers to homemade signs to stuffed animals, guys at Princeton High School have been going all-out to ask prospective dates to the prom this year. Justin Bestlity ‘11, for instance, “put a lot of time and effort” into asking his date.
“I set up a scavenger hunt around the school with various clues, and each clue was something we had done together, friend wise, and the last clue was my locker number. She went to my locker, and I was there, and she opened it, and there was a sign that said ‘prom?’” And although Bestlity didn’t mind having to set up the hunt, he admits that he “definitely felt some peer pressure” to do it.
“You can’t just have everyone else asking their date using flowers and signs, and then go and ask your date ‘so…do you wanna go to prom?’ It looks lame in comparison.” Explained Matt Flory ’11, who described his experience of popping the question as one that “definitely falls in the elaborate category.”
“My date and I were getting into my car, and I asked her to grab something from my trunk.” Flory explained. “When she opened it, there were flowers and a card – it was a bit weird to execute, but she said yes!”
Garret Keyes ’11 agrees with Matt, in that “it creates unnecessary ‘prama’ – prom drama – which there’s already enough of. On top of all the planning that goes into prom, like deciding where to take pictures beforehand, and which table to sit at, the act of asking a girl just adds to the pressure.” But not all guys are jumping on the bandwagon. Aaron Thomas ‘11, finds the measures guys are taking to be “a little too excessive.” Thomas simply asked his girlfriend to come with him, but his girlfriend “was kinda upset about it. But she still said yes!”
Dan Hardaker ‘12, said, “I think it is nice, but I think it’s kind of undermining other proposals, such as marriage proposals. It’s a little much for asking a girl to prom.” Scott Yehl ‘11 agrees with Dan. “Elaborate plans for asking a girl should be saved for something more special, like marriage, not just prom.” he said.
On the other hand, most of the girls are fans of this method. “I think it’s really exciting for a girl to get asked to prom using flowers or chocolate,” said Grace Hayes-Larson ’11, who added, “it makes girls feel special, which I think is sweet, because romance has definitely gone downhill.”
Hannah Milner ‘11 agrees with Hayes-Larson. “We absolutely don’t see any cute things like [what guys do for prom] during the rest of the school year. Not even around Valentine’s Day. So, for a girl, it makes it so much more exciting.”
What is really driving this trend to keep going strong is the pressure from the guys, who keep coming up with larger and more creative means of asking. Michael Hellstern ‘11, asked his date with the help of a finned friend. “I got her a fish, and gave it to her and said ‘of all the fish in the sea, will you go to prom with me?’ I wanted to make her prom special and unique.”
“It’s almost like ‘peacocking’,” explained Nate Ash ‘11. “The guys do it to show their dominance, to puff out their feathers, so to speak.” And the feathers have been quite decorative this year.
“The bar has been set very high by others, and it’s what we’ve come to expect.” Explained Alli Salazar ’11. This expectation is no doubt a burden on the guys. Lamented Flory, “It would just be easier if there wasn’t pressure for guys to be romantic heroes during prom season.”

