Every year in April, Linganore High School hosts its prom for juniors and seniors traditionally. This year’s prom took place at the Frederick fairgrounds on April 29.

Prom has always been a big part of American high school culture and ritual. Girls traditionally get all glammed up in beautiful dresses and makeup. Boys get dressed up in suits matching their date.

Prom is what many high schoolers wait for; they spend weeks picking out outfits and renting limos. Every detail is planned meticulously for the students to fondly remember after they graduate.

This year, however, students are slightly divided on their opinions about Linganore’s prom.

One complaint voiced this year was the increase of underclassment attending. Upperclassmen feel as if prom is something that should be reserved for juniors and seniors and not underclassmen, unless an upperclassmen takes them as a plus one.

Other students who attended this year enjoyed their time despite which classes attended. This year was Junior Ava Ablondi’s first prom, and her thoughts on the event were overall positive.

“My experience was that all the staff there were really friendly and helpful,” Abondi said. “The decor that they had was really nice, [and] the only negative thing I could say is that it was uneventful, underwhelming.”   

Abondi shared a suggestion for what could have improved her experience.

“If they had a wider range of music played then that would be great,” Abondi said. 

A big hit with students were the props that turned the Frederick fairgrounds into a walk on the red carpet in Hollywood. One of the main contributors to the success of the event was Linganore Literacy specialist Tracey Cassidy.

Along with special education teacher Traci Davies, Cassidy is an advisor for the Class of 2024. The advisors met with the class officers at the beginning of the school year to collaborate and discuss ideas and themes for the prom, before making the final decision.

“This year’s theme was the Hollywood red carpet … I thought we did a great job executing the theme, if I say so myself,” Cassidy said.

Prom had a new venue this year at the Frederick fairgrounds. In the past, prom had been held at the Clarion Inn Fredrick Event Center. Cassidy said that with the really big building, they decided to hire an event planner to help stage the event.

“I thought it went really well,” said Cassidy. “Our event planner [was] Ashely Hensen; she was very amazing and very helpful, and so our goal was to make sure that everything that was included in the prom was representative of Hollywood red carpet.”

Along with the event planner, Cassidy and other staff helped ensure that despite little bumps along the way, prom was still a beautiful night for everyone who attended.