Every spring, LASA’s student council organizes a prom for juniors and seniors. Prom is traditionally held at hotels or other similar venues, but this year, prom was held at the Bullock Texas State History Museum for the first time. Juniors and seniors attended the Ocean’s ‘23 themed prom, a take on the Oceans 11 and 8 movies, on April 22.  

Senior Samantha Mason was inclined to go to her second prom this year after attending last year’s prom. Mason really enjoys prom and appreciates all the effort the student council puts into planning it. 

“Last year, getting to attend prom was an amazing experience,” Mason said. “The student council always does a wonderful job of putting together and planning the event down to the last detail. It’s a fun chance to spend time with friends, dress up, and ignore a lot of the additional stresses of LASA for a day. I really enjoyed the entire process of it, and the actual event at the Sheraton downtown was well put together and overall a great experience.”

LASA’s prom is open to both juniors and seniors, which is different from McCallum and Anderson’s prom which are seniors only. Mason likes that LASA’s prom is open to more grade levels.

“I think juniors and seniors attending the same prom is how prom should be,” Mason said. “I may be biased because the only prom I’ve attended was as a junior, but I can’t imagine the evening without seeing my senior friends or imagine prom this year without seeing my junior friends.”

Mason was very excited about this year’s choice for prom venue. She thinks that having prom in a museum was a really unique idea. 

“I’m so excited about this year’s prom being held in the Bob Bullock Museum,” Mason said. “The idea of prom being held in a museum is great for LASA in general. The Bob Bullock is a beautiful venue. I think it’ll make for a special senior prom.”

While the students that attend prom are an important part of the event, there are also many people who make prom happen behind the scenes. Student council is heavily involved in the process of prom setup and preparation. Ana Zhao is the sophomore student council vice president and helps organize some parts of prom. 

“Generally we discuss prom items during our Wednesday meetings or have little assignments for each person,” Zhao said, “So we don’t really have specific tasks depending on the role.”

This is Zhao’s second year being a part of the student council, so she was involved with prom last year as well, which was held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Austin. According to Zhao, a lot goes into planning prom and making it a special night.

“Before prom day, we discussed the vendors and many different factors we needed during prom,” Zhao said. “We arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in the morning and started setting up, and once prom started, freshmen and sophomores had different shifts between check in, ticket sales, voting, and coat check.” 

According to Zhao, having prom at the Bullock Texas State History Museum this past year meant that prom would look a little different. Zhao said that the venue would make it easier for the student council to organize and decorate for the theme. 

“I think that it’ll be easier to work shifts because we organized the stations closer to each other,” Zhao said. “The dance area will also be separate from the tables or eating area, so there won’t be as much crowding around. I think it may be more tiring all around because there are sections upstairs, so walking up and down the stairs will be hard, but I think this venue is really good especially for our theme.”

Even though Zhao has not formally attended a prom as a guest, she still has the experience of being there in the fun environment. Zhao thinks that prom will be even more enjoyable when she is able to attend as an upperclassman next year. 

“I think prom is a really good experience for juniors and seniors, especially for seniors because it gives a little celebration for them ending college applications and the stressful high school life.” Zhao said. “Even just working at prom is really fun and creates lifelong memories for people.”