By Sharon Karl, THG News
April 4,
2005
Prom
season is upon us once again. Most young ladies have been
hunting for the perfect dress since well before Christmas.
Many have been accessorizing since before Valentine’s Day and
had their hair appointments set by Easter Sunday. Those
things, however, seem to be the easy part when planning for
“The Big Night”.
The most
difficult thing about preparing for prom seems to be finding
the perfect date…or a not-so-perfect date…or any date. Many
students begin to search high and low for a date.
“I’ve
asked five girls so far and all of ‘em gave me a big fat
‘No!’”, said Lance Dickerson, 17. “Most girls have already
been asked.”
Lauren
Stinson agreed, “I waited for several weeks for a certain
someone to ask. Well, he didn’t, so I started asking boys
myself. Like, everybody from my school has a date but me.”
When
asked about their plans for their immediate prom future,
neither Stinson nor Dickerson would elaborate, only hinting
that they did have a “Plan B”.
It seems
like many students do have a “Plan B” and many are not afraid
to shout it to the world. Indiana high school students are
overwhelmingly beginning to take their relatives to the prom.
They are taking cousins, aunts, uncles, and occasionally a
sibling. “I’m taking my cousin, Tammy,” said Cody Blevins of
Orleans High School.
“She’s the only one that said yes.”
This new
trend has been going on in our neighboring state of Kentucky
for some time. When an informal survey was taken in a random
sample of Kentucky high schools, nine out of ten students said
they would seriously consider taking a relative to prom and
six of ten actually had taken a relative the previous year.
While a similar survey in Indiana did not yield such high
results, the trend seems to be growing.
“Last
year, I took my uncle Ricky. He’s only 29, so he was a lot of
fun! He gave me and my friends some Peach Schnapps and broke
out some killer moves on the dance floor. Everybody loved
him!” said Tory Van Duran of Jeffersonville. “This year
though, he has a girlfriend that doesn’t want him to go. I’m
thinking about asking my step-brother Dwayne.”
“I don’t
think it’s a bad idea asking relatives. Most people make fun
of you if you go ‘stag’ or just go with friends. If you have
a date, though, any date, you seem cool. I have seven or
eight friends this year from different schools that are taking
relatives,” said Jerry Peerless of Ben
Davis
High School. “Right now, I have a couple friends in mind, but
if they’re already going with someone else, I’m pretty sure my
mom’s free that night.”
