Prom is cancelled for 2021. Due to social distancing guidelines and indoor and outdoor event capacities FHS won’t be hosting a prom or After Prom event. “We tried, the school itself and school system have tried our best to come up with a way to do a prom. The problem that we kept running into with the prom is kids want a prom like they had in the past, the dancing and everything that goes with it,” said Principal Kraig Kelican.
Earlier, Kelican met with the senior and junior class SCA officers to discuss the possibility of an outdoor prom. However, there would be a limit on attendees as well as a three feet social distancing requirement. The class officers “were unanimous in their conversation and their vote. They wouldn’t participate, and that wouldn’t fly with the rest of their classmates,” said Kelican.
Kelican said that FHS plans to “include some of the some of the things that the kids missed out on After Prom and prom” at this year’s senior picnic on May 7. Since the Class of 2021 has missed both of their proms, the school planned this expanded activity for them. While it is still being planned, Kelican said they will be awarding the After Prom prizes, cash and items there.
With the inability to host a prom at FHS for two years in a row, due to COVID-19, Kelican realizes it won’t be the same for the seniors and said, “We’re trying to give them as much of an experience as we can within the guidelines that we have to follow.”
In replacement of this event, students have offered to host a prom event at their house. “Even though it’s beyond our control and we don’t sponsor that, the only thing I would say is: I would encourage students to again make sure you follow mitigation. You could still have the risk of contracting COVID[-19] there and then bringing it back to school, and you see all the complications,” said Kelican.