Mountain View High School Prom: a Principal’s Perspective
I had the opportunity to attend and be a small part of the MVHS Junior Prom Saturday night. It is always remarkable to me when I see the MVHS gym filled with students, family, and friends supporting the junior students. Thank you to all of you. I would also like to thank all the parents who provided meals for the juniors, our custodial and maintenance crew who help set up for the event, the office staff who help with prom in so many important ways, the choreographers, anyone else who helped in any way to help bring prom together, and especially the students themselves for being so positive, engaged, and willing to participate in such a big event. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable dancing in front of that many people!
It wasn't that long ago that we had to cancel a junior prom during the COVID shutdown. We were lucky the next year to host a combined junior/senior prom so everyone could benefit from that prom experience despite a global pandemic.
One of the things I have learned about the MVHS prom in my time as principal is that people generally think of “Prom” as the dance, as that one evening. “Prom” is actually the entire week of events. It is the students working together to decorate the gym (and don’t forget the clean up on Sunday). It is the students having a chance to work (and eat, thank you again parents) together and have fun doing it. It is about students coming to consensus about what they want prom to look like. It is about some of our students having a chance to lead their peers, and for other students who may not be so involved, to get involved. It is about students practicing a dance (in high heels, five nights in a row!) so they can showcase their talent, a talent many of them never knew they had. Prom at MVHS goes way beyond the dance itself and is about a group of students coming closer together, doing something they’ve never had to do before, having fun, and putting their best foot forward for one night for our entire community to see.
A special thanks to MVHS teachers and junior class advisors Kolby Christopher and Matt Clark for their willingness to step up and support students for the public spectacle that is prom as well as all the time, practice, and time out of class for the parts no one ever sees. Unfortunately, coordinating an event like prom opens teachers up to scrutiny and criticism; the fact that we have teachers who are still willing to take on the responsibility for such a public event and to have almost every decision dissected and analyzed is staggering. “Prom” is no small thing. There are so many ways that our teachers step up to support students in this community. Thank you to all staff across our entire district for the small things that you do for our kids - that usually aren’t so small - and help create positive memories for an entire community.
Ben Carr
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