To be Prom royalty

The advance and hosting of Prom every year carries with it a number of seemingly indelible traditions that seniors engage in as rites of passage not only of high school, but of life: shelling out hundreds of dollars to dress in shockingly highfalutin garb; cashing in on equally expensive dinners at high-end area restaurants and ordering stretch limos to get there.

And there are those traditions that form around Prom: the many neighborhood get-togethers, delayed for years, finally occurring as a result of needed picture-taking; or, the annual articles that appear in high school newspapers that “cover” the event.

Perhaps one of the most heralded traditions of Prom night for every American (and Canadian) school, throughout recent history, has been the election of a Prom King and Prom Queen. It is the tradition whereby two students, a girl and a guy, are voted in as, well, “Prom royalty.” Though Prom King and Queen have no governing power, no special rights, and receive nothing of material gain besides a crown and a chance to dance a mandatory slow dance together, the election, at least in popular culture, has been depicted as a signifier of neplus ultra social standing, and thus a designation to be wanted by all.

But, for AHS students, are the positions of Prom King and Prom Queen really “all that?”

“I’m proud to be Prom Queen. It’s flattering; it’s exciting. But becoming Prom Queen is definitely not what it used to be, or at least what I think it used to be,” said senior Sarah Waiter, this year’s Prom Queen. “Now it’s more relaxed, and not as cutthroat, at least not as cutthroat as it is made out to be in the movies and stuff like that.”

For many seniors attending Prom this year, the election of Prom King and Queen was an enjoyable activity to engage in, but one that did not demand much rumination over the social and psychological connotations of what it meant to vote for one candidate or another. Voting was open to all students present at Prom this year (held at the Springfield Waterford), and candidates were all write-ins.

“First off, I think a lot of people thought it would be sort of funny for me to be voted Prom King,” said senior Greg Young, AHS’s 2008 Prom King, as he described why he thought he won the election. “But also there was the fact that I participated a lot in the dance, which is something that I rarely do.

The fact that I was even there probably had an impact. The last dance I
went to was homecoming, sophomore year.”
On top of who wins Prom King, Young noted that the meaning of Prom
King is variable as well. “I think the weight that you put into a position like
Prom King is determined by who wins it,” said Young. “Me winning it was
kind of an upset. I was told that one of my friends got eighty people to vote
for me on the spot. As a social institution, it felt really good to be king, in that

I am usually really awkward in school. It creates a positive memory for Prom.” Still, “you
have to be careful of these false social distinctions. Being Prom King could give me a boost of ego that I don’t really need right now.”

Thomas Mukai, a senior at W.T. Woodson High School, said that the designations of
Prom King and Prom Queen at Woodson have taken on similar meanings as those at AHS, in that students do not engage in cutthroat maneuvers to win, but that both members of royalty are regarded as honorable.

“Last year our Prom King and Prom Queen competition was based on character,” he said.
“The people that won weren’t necessarily the most popular, but they were the people that
you could most get along with and talk to.

“People kind of respect the Prom positions. It shows that you are able to
get along with people, and even if you are not the most popular person, people
think you are the most affable.”

Of course, Young noted that employing certain political stratagems can
work in one’s favor. “A lot of my winning was dependent on my date,”he said.

“She was really nice, energetic, and, I won’t lie: she was the type you would
call physically attractive.”

Young had done his best to assure his success with his date. “I showered
at least three times the night I met her,” said Young. “The night of Prom I
was sure not to get ready at my house: we had a bed-bug infestation upstairs,
where the bathroom is. I got ready at my grandma’s. My date was really down
to earth, though. She plays World of Warcraft.”

“I don’t think being Prom Queen has much meaning anymore; it’s not
what it used to be,” said Waiter. “But then again high school isn’t what it used
to be. Prom, Prom Queen, Prom King; they’ve all changed.”