"Second-Chance" Prom

I don’t know about you, but my high school prom was not my greatest memory of high school.

Ask anyone ten or 20, or even 30 years out of high school what their memories of prom are. Go ahead. Chances are either the event was extremely horrible or relatively unmemorable. Definitely not the greatest thing about high school.

In an unexpected turn of events, the junior class of a local high school hosted a “second-chance" prom to raise money for their high school prom.

You read that right: hosting a prom to make money for prom.

Hmmm. Think about that one a minute.

Basically, to make a profit on this “second-chance” prom, these high school students have to put on a really cheap dance in the school cafeteria…more like a “second-class” prom, if you will. Maybe throw up some crepe paper streamers, blow up a few balloons, get someone to load up an Ipod with music from the days of yore.

All so they can have an over-the-top, first-class, (more or less) affordable senior prom. That they will either regret going to or not even remember in 15 years.

And who are these high school students targeting for their super-cool “second-chance” prom in the cafeteria? Well, of course all the unfortunate souls who couldn't get a date back in the day. Plus, all of us who are now married to someone other than our high school sweetheart and secretly wish we could relive that “greatest of high school moments” with our true and lasting love. Oh, and let’s not forget all those people who had such a great time at their own senior prom that they truly want to relive the experience one more time.

Let’s hope this really does become a tradition so these juniors at our local high school will have a “second-chance” prom to go to one day. You know, for that day when they look back on their senior prom, which they funded by throwing a prom, with either horrible memories that need to be replaced or such visions of grandeur that they need to relive the memorable event. In either case, it seems disappointment is eminent. I mean, how is a “second-class/second-chance” prom going to hold up to the magnificence that will apparently be their senior prom? That is, if the whole “second-chance” prom fundraising idea really did rake in the bucks.

In closing, I would like to add that my life is complete without ever attending another prom, and perhaps it would have been wiser for me not to have ever gone to a prom in the first place. Ah well…c’est la vie.