Local High Schools Prepare for Prom During a Pandemic

(KNSI) – After high schools around the U.S. had to cancel proms and in-person graduation ceremonies last year due to COVID-19, prom is back on in Central Minnesota.

Apollo High School and Tech High School will hold their proms on Saturday, May 15th. District 742 assistant superintendent of secondary education Laurie Putnam says juniors and seniors can attend the dance in pods of six. Those pods will stay grouped together through the night and will be distanced from other pods.

“They’ll be located right on campus,” Putnam said. “We will be having a grand march, and we will then have an event for our students.”

Putnam says the students who are helping plan the event are passionate and creative. She added that the school district is staying flexible with its plan in case COVID-19 mitigation guidelines change.

“Our students are working with a teacher and administration to develop a prom that, while it can’t be everything that it used to be, meets their hopes and dreams within safety guidelines,” Putnam said. “Our students are absolutely integral to this work.”

Graduation for those high schools will also be held in person this year. Putnam says the ceremonies for Tech on May 27th Apollo on May 28th will be held at the River’s Edge Convention Center in the late afternoon into evening — more details will come next month.

Though graduation ceremonies will return to some sense of pre-pandemic normalcy, Putnam says the district is retaining an event that happened out of necessity last year: parades for graduates.

“We have heard from our families and our students and our staff that they just loved that event; it felt very heartfelt and personal,” she said. “So we do intend to do the parades again to honor our seniors.”

Those are slated for May 25th for Tech and May 26th for Apollo.

At Sartell High School, prom is slated for Saturday, May 22nd. Principal Sascha Hansen says the event will last from 4 to 9 p.m. that day on campus.

“They’re going to do the grand march inside,” Hansen said. “They’re also going to have a catered meal from House of Pizza. Bernick’s has also worked with us to try to donate some beverages. Then, they’re actually going to do an outdoor DJ and have some yard games … after coronation is over and they’re done taking their pictures.”

Hansen said the students involved with planning prom have come up with creative ideas and are trying to make the event as fun as possible while sticking to COVID-19 safety protocols. However, Sartell’s prom will only be open to the senior class.

“The big reason why our senior class kind of thought seniors only, no outside students and no juniors is that the 22nd is two weeks exactly away from graduation,” Hansen said. “The more students that are engaged, there’s a higher risk of potentially having to quarantine. Our seniors have been really vocal about wanting to make sure that they’re able to walk at graduation.”

That graduation ceremony is set for June 5th. Hansen says more details about graduation will come in the next few weeks but says it will more than likely be held outdoors.

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