Restrict Prom Attendees to Upperclassmen

Adaliah Collins, Editor

Prom is seen as a once in a lifetime night, especially for many seniors. So, it becomes a personal issue when juniors, like myself, and seniors are unable to attend prom when underclassmen are buying up the bids.

While I understand that there are under/upperclassman couples, I am also aware that many sophomores and freshmen attending Saturday’s prom are partnering as friends. Having underclassmen at the event defeats the purpose of  a Junior/Senior Prom.

Many seniors who aren’t going to this weekend’s social event see it as unfair that freshmen and sophomores are attending prom, given that they have two-three additional years to attend their proms.

“It was sold out,” Angelica Manuel (11), who is disappointed about not going, said. She admitted to holding off on purchasing a bid “because I waited for one of my friends who didn’t know if she was going.”

I agree with the argument that sophomores and freshmen should only have the option of buying after dinner tickets, which will allow more space for upperclassmen.

Another possible solution that students support is to limit the number of underclassmen who can attend.

Radford limited the amount of students who can dine and dance to approximately 420 students. If they were to limit the freshman and sophomore attendees to a maximum of 75 or so, then more upperclassmen will have the opportunity to attend their prom.

As it turns out, senior adviser Christine Christe said that only 37 underclassmen attended the prom.

There’s an acceptable alternative event to prom, and that’s Homecoming. All students are allowed to attend Homecoming, so freshmen and sophomores should seize the opportunity to attend that, instead of going to our prom.