Lisle High School’s prom of 2023 is to be held at Pinstripes (Oak Brook) on April 21st. It has been mentioned as the first “normal” prom since the pandemic. Students and organizers have long faced the challenges of attempting to form a classic prom for students to look back on.
“Prom is kind of like planning a wedding,” comments Ms. Amy Renguso, the 2023 class sponsor.
“You have to lock in a date at least a year in advance,” she says. “It’s a lot of guidance. Students come to me with ideas and I tell them what is possible and what isn’t possible.”
The prom venue has been picked in hopes to break up the student’s evening with various activities. Prom at Pinstripes includes 8 reserved bowling lanes, a large balcony with fire pits, flatbread pizzas, a photo booth, and of course, a dance floor.
Back in 2021 and 2022, sponsors were forced to work around restricting regulations to secure a venue for our prom date. Since it is impossible to predict the future outcomes of Covid-19, the availability of outdoor space is obligatory.
Features like an outside option with air ventilation were a necessity a year ago. Ms. Renguso made sure that Pinstripses provides this option with “clear garage doors” that can be opened up to preference along with the balcony.
Not only have those in charge been caught up in the mess, but students too have dealt with the challenging circumstances.
Seniors that went to prom their junior year at Mesón Sabika share their thoughts.
“The venue was pretty small,” senior Joey Connolly said. “There wasn’t really much to do.”
Senior Miette Thompson prefers the available outdoor option and is looking forward to the variety of activities Pinstripes has to offer.
Despite both seniors expressing concern about the success of bowling as a prom activity, they’re willing to give it a chance. As Connolly puts it, “It won’t be hard to beat junior prom.”
Another reason Lisle High School hasn’t been able to whip up a regular prom is due to a lack of funding.
“We lost at least a year of fundraising.” Ms. Renguso said. Without the students being in school to run mini fundraisers, no extra money was being made.
Sales like decath shirts for the class of 2023 and Valentine’s for the class of 2024 had been low the past couple of years because of money being tight on families and lack of participation.
“We really had hoped to go downtown to Chicago, but having someplace that has an open-air venue… it just wasn’t feasible.”
“The price per plate has increased by [around] $30.” And sponsors strive every year to keep the price per ticket at $100 maximum.
The best way for Lisle High School to regularly book special venues and keep the price down is by signing a multi-year contract with the company and cycling two locations each year.
The ultimate goal is to make prom affordable to all students.
Everyone involved, like the executive board members of each class, work very hard each year to ensure that students enjoy themselves on this memorable night.