Dancing the night away at Martin’s Valley Mansion Junior, senior prom attracts a large turnout

The Martin’s Valley Mansion was full of junior and senior students who attended the 2022 prom on Apr. 30th. Outside of school dates and no mask mandate mark a change from last year’s prom at God’s Gifts Farm. 

     With a large turnout of both juniors and seniors, students said they found the venue appealing. Junior Claire Johnson says, “the venue was really big and pretty inside and it wasn’t too far.” Similarly senior Allison Stewart says, “the venue was really pretty. When we walked in the lights were really cool and overall it was really nice.”

     At this year’s prom, Martin’s Valley Mansion served an all you can eat dinner and desserts in buffet style. Junior Emily Persuhn says, “I really enjoyed the food, especially the mocktails” where pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris were served. 

     The only complaint from students was the DJ, specifically the music he played. Junior Cole Younger says, “the music could have been better and the DJ played too much EDM music. The only good songs were Dancing Queen and Party In The USA, but overall the event was still very nice.” Johnson also says, “ I would change the music because I feel like we heard the same song a lot.

     This year’s event also provided seniors with the chance to win prom king and queen. Summer Grace and Griffin Hevesy were crowned the winners. 

     Grace says winning prom queen was by far the coolest experience of her life. “It was incredible to be recognized by all of my peers and I loved being able to share the experience with Griffin. I definitely didn’t expect to win, and it was the best surprise,” she says. 

     Prom King Griffin Hevesy says, “it was really cool to be nominated with Summer and get the recognition from the seniors was really gratifying. The feeling of standing behind the doors and then getting up on stage was super exciting and nerve wracking. I didn’t really expect to win until I heard the insane level of applause when we walked out because I had no idea what the turnout was going to be.”

   Senior Allison Stewart was also part of the prom court and says, “the opportunity was really fun and it was an end of the year last thing to do with my friends.”

        Compared to last year’s prom Johnson says, “this year was much more put together. Having juniors and seniors together was also better because there were more people, with friends from both grades.” Persuhn also says, “the venue last year was also closer and I liked the farm appearance.”

     Although some enjoyed the heavy turnout others think that juniors and seniors should have had a separate prom. Persuhn says, “it just seemed like too many people this year.” Also, giving seniors their own dance would make them feel more important in their final year, according to Younger.