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Central seniors seek perfect finish
Hinsdale Central seniors Melanie Cass (from left), Grace Klein and Claudia Vaughan go over their game plan before doing a dry run of their prom day routine. | Photos by Vincent D. Johnson~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: July 3, 2012 10:42AM
One old tradition continues to provide plenty of excitement at Hinsdale Central.
While seniors don’t miss any sleep for having missed a homecoming dance, the school’s senior prom is a big deal. More than 500 graduating seniors plan to be there Saturday for the prom, “Dance like it’s the end of the world,” said Katie Bolton, a faculty sponsor of the senior class.
The Central prom is a formal dinner dance at the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier in Chicago. The evening includes a round-trip coach bus trip from the high school. After dinner, dancing, socializing and a ride on the Navy Pier Ferris wheel, a midnight post-prom cruise and light buffet on Lake Michigan is available.
“We want all of our kids to have the opportunity to go to prom, and there are some scholarships available for those who wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Bolton said.
Fundraising to help cover the cost of putting on a $75,000 prom starts for class board members when they are freshmen. Central senior Maddie Beja has been class board president all four years of high school.
“It’s kind of like your last night to have fun with everyone in your grade,” Beja said. “I had a great time last year when I went, but it will be different this year, more special, because it’s my own class.”
Beja believes prom is considerably more popular than other social events because of its glamour and tradition.
“I think people also realize that it’s at the end of high school for the seniors,” she said. “You realize that people you’ve been friends with for four years, for the most part, you’ll never see again - at least until a reunion.”
While many students attend prom with a date, Bolton said it’s not uncommon for some to show up without a significant other.
“Students here seem very comfortable going as groups of friends,” she said. “They want to go with who they have fun with’ and everyone seems very comfortable with that.
“Our kids really do have a great attitude about prom, and they’re extremely well-behaved.”
Beja said the time leading up to prom is often stressful, especially for the girls. Some of her classmates agreed.
“It is stressful; we kind of make it that way,” said Claudia Vaughan. “We want everything to be just perfect.”
For the girls, perfect means having the right dress, fitting perfectly, with hair, makeup, shoes and accessories that work well together.
While boys attending prom don’t seemingly have as much to do in preparation as the girls, they do want to look good, said Steve Potter, owner of Hinsdale Clothiers, 777 N. York Road.
“The last five years, especially the last two, a lot of boys have wanted a very thin fit,” he said. “They are more aware of how clothes fit; and there’s been an influence of movies and TV shows.”
The big buzz for prom at Central started shortly after Christmas.
That’s when this year’s Facebook page was posted to help prevent girls showing up to prom wearing the same dress.
“The guys don’t understand why we start so early,” Vaughan said.
Despite the stress and nervousness that may be part of the process in preparing for prom, nobody is expecting anything less than a spectacular night.
“We definitely look for it to be a good experience,” said Central senior Melanie Cass. “It’s a big bonding experience for all of us.”
Fellow senior Taylor Wilder agreed that prom will be a memorable experience.
“It will be a great memory,” she said. “Everybody always has a great time at prom.”
