UPDATE: New Palestine High School had originally planned to limit its prom to seniors only but hadn’t sold enough tickets as of April 7 to justify holding the event at The Crane Bay Event Center in Indianapolis as planned.
HANCOCK COUNTY — Proms have been a rite of passage for high school students for decades, but the pandemic has made it challenging to uphold the time-honored tradition since COVID first crashed the party last year.
After canceling proms last year out of necessity, all four Hancock County high schools are planning to have prom or prom-alternative activities this spring.
New Palestine High School will hold its prom on Saturday, April 17, at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis.
Mt. Vernon High School will hold its prom one week later, on Saturday, April 24, at Daniel’s Vineyard in McCordsville.
If all goes according to plan, there will be music and dancing at both events.
Many of Indiana’s state-mandated COVID guidelines expired on Wednesday, April 6, which impacts the number of people who can gather together in any one place. A new COVID outbreak, however, could tighten those guidelines and cause school officials to reconsider close-contact events like dancing at prom.
To provide more time for those guidelines to return to normal, Eastern Hancock High School opted to skip the traditional spring timing and will hold its prom on campus on June 10.
Greenfield-Central High School, meanwhile, will host a “prom alternative” event on April 24, featuring a dessert buffet and a comedian at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
Harold Olin, superintendent of Greenfield-Central schools, said event organizers opted for a comedian for the night’s entertainment, rather than music and dancing, in light of the unpredictable pandemic to keep students safe.
To keep the number of students attending low, only Greenfield-Central seniors and juniors can attend. That means no dates can be brought from outside schools, a practice that all county high schools are sticking to for their prom events this year.
Only seniors are currently invited to attend New Palestine High School’s prom, but a parent-led movement is planning a separate prom for juniors.
“I am aware of a parent-led junior prom, but the school is not affiliated with that,” said Wes Anderson, director of school and community relations for Southern Hancock schools.
He did say that school officials may revisit the current prom guidelines, given the fact that the prom was planned before it was announced that state mandates for group gatherings would expire on April 6.
“I think it’s still fluid as of now,” he said this week. “I think all the counties are trying to figure out what to do in relation to the next executive orders that give the county health departments the authority to set their own restrictions on crowd sizes, etc.”
Representatives from all schools say making prom plans this year has been a work in progress, as they’re keeping an eye on the latest guidelines provided by the state and county health departments, and planning their events accordingly.
“We’ve continued to work with (them) to review the situation, and to continue to flesh out the plans as we get closer to the date,” said Casey Dodd, principal at Mt. Vernon High School.
“We will be having music, and we are working with the health department and event center to see if dancing would be possible. We’re going to have to make sure that we are making appropriate choices depending on what the health department is recommending” at the time, he said last week.
At Eastern Hancock High School, the junior class is putting on the prom for seniors with the theme, “A Night in the Royal Garden,” a formal affair that will include a buffet dinner and social time. Whether or not that includes dancing remains to be seen.
More details will be forthcoming as the prom committee continues finalizing plans, said Cathy Reynolds, the school’s guidance secretary.
At Mt. Vernon High School, Dodd is looking forward to the prom on April 24, and is excited to give the students a bit of normalcy in a year that’s been anything but.
“We want to maintain as many of the normal prom traditions as we can, but also follow the protocols so we can do so safely,” he said.
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It’s prom time in Hancock County. Local high schools have planned a variety of events to bring back a bit of normalcy for the second senior class to graduate amid the pandemic.
Following is a list of prom plans for local schools:
Eastern Hancock High School: 8 to 11 p.m. June 10 on campus
Greenfield-Central High School: 7 to 9:30 p.m. April 24 at the Hyatt Regency, Indianapolis
Mt. Vernon High School: 7 to 10:30 p.m. April 24, Daniel’s Vineyard, McCordsville
New Palestine High School: April 17, Crane Bay Events Center, Indianapolis
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