Kipnuk Prom 2009

Last night was the prom, and it was a lot of fun. A HS teacher here, Debbie, had her girlfriends back home send up lots of dresses that they would never wear again, or donated dresses, and the girls in grades 7-12 could come to her house to try them on for the prom. It's a rarity that these girls have the opportunity, or the clothes, to get all dolled up in a fancy dress and they looked great! Another HS teacher, Mark, opened up his closet for the boys to have button-down shirts, ties and a couple jackets to wear at the prom. A couple of the boys wore suits, and they all seemed to have a great time. The community is invited to the prom as well, so from 7p-12am, the school doors were opened for the prom.

People slowly filtered in, went to the classroom to change and then shyly (some of the girls were shy about being in the dresses) came to the gym where half of it was set up with tables for food, and the other half was barricaded with blue wrestling mats, decorated with silver tinsel, to make the arc entrance to the dance area. Barricaded sounds like a harsh word, but it was a wall of blue mats that was very nicely decorated, and there was a pink cellophane walkway that led through the arc onto the dance floor.

The DJ was Buggy, who is from the community, and he did a great job. It was very loud, but we were prepared with earplugs (that one of the HS teachers, Ray, gave us - she said they came in handy last year). It was much better with the earplugs!

At first no one was really dancing, and a group of guys entertained themselves by playing basketball with a balloon, but eventually there was a group of girls that started dancing, and a few couples braved the dance floor when some slow songs came on. I announced the School Spirit Award and the Royal Court (Prince, Princess, Queen, and King). Another teacher, Linda, put on the crowns and the robes of the elected court, I just announced the names. The School Spirit Award and Prom King went to the same student, and he couldn't have been happier.

It was so sweet to see all the kids dressed up for their big night. My roommates and I signed up to sit by the back door and make sure no one tried to leave or come in. We didn't have any problems, and we had a great spot. Like I said, there wasn't much dancing at first, but the DJ did call everyone out to the floor a couple times for some group dances. Towards the end of the night there were many more people dancing, students and some of the adults.

At many high school's, Prom is the biggest thing in the world, and it's nice to see students who aren't fretting over the dress, the make-up, and looking absolutely perfect. It's not like there was a huge budget to work with here, and it came together very nicely from the help of the students and staff members. I am going to post some pictures now. Enjoy!