Missing prom leaves void for seniors
May 7, 2020
Seniors Madison Taylor and Elexus Kooi are still coming to terms with the fact they will not attend prom Saturday. They bought their dresses and had them altered. They were ready to dance the night away. Instead, the two will head to a beach house in Galveston with their prom group in hopes of creating at least one senior memory before high school officially ends.
The hardest part has been “the fact that I’m missing out on moments that can’t be recreated,” Kooi said. “I was gutted and upset that I wouldn’t be able to celebrate the high school tradition with my friends and family.”
Due to the coronavirus, many traditional senior activities were canceled or postponed, including prom, senior picnic and graduation.
Taylor and Kooi had looked forward to their senior prom since they were young, and now they will never have the full experience. Some seniors, like Taylor and Kooi, are trying to make their senior year end as normally as possible, while others are staying home because of COVID-19.
Senior Tyler Scott hasn’t had a normal senior year at all. His house flooded at the beginning of the year during Tropical Storm Imelda. Then he helped the swim team win a state title in February, a month before classes were moved online.
“I’ll miss seeing everyone that I’ve known for so long,” Scott said. “I miss seeing teachers that I have become close to over the year and the swim team because they are family.”
Scott already had a suit he planned to wear for prom and was looking forward to going to a beach house after the dance.
Senior Sara Geiger already had her prom dress as well. She had been looking for the perfect dress since the summer before her senior year and was looking forward to going to an AirBnB with her friends after the dance. Now, she has no solid plans for her prom night.
“I would say it’s bittersweet,” Geiger said. “We don’t have prom, senior picnic or graduation, but we will be high school graduates, and that’s something to celebrate and be proud of.”
Senior Morgan Eckerty never had the chance to get a dress of her own for prom, but she fit into her mom’s so she wore that it when she took prom photos from home. She’s been working and helping her family while her parents work through the pandemic.
“It hasn’t really hit yet that high school is over,” Eckerty said. “Without the milestones of prom and graduation and all the other senior stuff I just feel like I’m in limbo.”
