With the recent announcement that Prom 2017 will be held at the Shedd Aquarium, like it was last year, many students started speculating that future proms would be held at smaller locations. However, Ms. Andrea Lara, one of the Student Council advisors, said this is very unlikely to happen.
The decision to hold prom at locations such as the Shedd Aquarium and aboard the Spirit of Chicago yacht, as was the case for Prom 2015, was made a few years ago when Ms. Lara became a Student Council advisor. Previously, prom was held at the Marriott in Lincolnshire.
Ms. Lara explained “that for the price our kids were paying for a prom, they were going to Lincolnshire, and we thought it was kind of dumb, kind of boring.” She believed that students should be able to get a better venue for the price they were already paying.
Although Ms. Lara enjoyed the yacht as a venue, she thought it would be a bit small if the weather was not nice. The yacht had an indoor portion as well as outdoor, but the indoor portion was quite small. Ms. Lara and the rest of Student Council loved the Shedd Aquarium, though.
“So what we decided to do was try to do an every-other-year [at] Shedd and another venue,” Ms. Lara said.
In the future, this is how prom venues will be scheduled, as this allows students to experience the Shedd Aquarium and one other venue during their junior and senior years. Next year, students can look forward to having prom held at the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier.
This every-other-year plan was unable to be brought to fruition for this year.
“When we are picking venues in the city, we’re up against other proms, weddings, company things, and we could not find another Chicago venue for 2017 besides the Shedd,” Ms. Lara elaborated.
Since everyone seemed to enjoy the Shedd Aquarium last year, the Student Council decided that they would do the Shedd again this year before implementing their every-other-year test.
As far as the price for these locations goes, although they tend to be more expensive than what Ms. Lara refers to as banquet halls, such as the Lincolnshire Marriott, students should not worry about the funding for them.
Part of Student Council is learning about fiscal responsibility; this includes budgeting and raising money. Mrs. Lara said, “if we change venues, it won’t be because we’re out of money, that’s just not going to happen because all year long [we have been] keeping a really tight eye on our budget.”
In addition, Student Council has worked very hard to not increase prom ticket prices. The price of prom tickets, which is currently $100 per person, has not increased since prom started being held in Chicago locations.
Additionally, it is very unlikely prom will be moved back to locations such as the Lincolnshire Marriott. “If we’re back in the banquet hall, it would be because the kids say, ‘we’re tired of going to the city, we want to go to a banquet hall,’” Ms. Lara stressed.
Tanvi Patel, a current senior who attended prom at the Shedd Aquarium last year as a junior, said that she “really enjoyed that it was different than other dances we’ve had. I thought that’s what made it more special.”
Even though she enjoyed the Shedd Aquarium as a location, Patel would have liked to see prom at a different location this year as a way to change things up.
