A Prom-ising Beginning

With summatives and exams just around the corner, graduating students of MGCI also have another activity to plan for: prom. From 15 May to 2 June, tickets were available for purchase from the SAC office for the graduating class’ last dance, taking place on 28 June.

To buy a ticket, students had to first fill out a contract sheet which could be picked up at the SAC office, or downloaded from Facebook. Ticket prices were $95 for MGCI students if purchased before 26 May, and $105 afterwards; guest tickets cost $10 extra, and required an additional guest form. The ticket price included admission and dinner, with the choice of chicken meal, chicken pasta, or vegetarian pasta.

Prom Committee primarily advertised the sale through posters and social media, with several announcements made to remind students of the deadline. Some students felt that this was insufficient, with one noting that “the posters weren’t eye-catching or effective.” However, over one hundred fifty tickets were sold at the end of three weeks, with two hundred being the total number of tickets available. Guests tickets were also quite popular, with a little over ten sold in total.

Sana Hatia, the Grad Convenor, said, “At the start, the ticket sales seemed to go a little slow but after that many people started to come and we were able to reach our goal of at least one hundred fifty ticket sales.” She also noted that although one hundred eighty ticket sales were required to break even, with staff ticket purchases and senior sweater sales, Prom Committee will be able to fund the event.

For many students, the pricing of the tickets seemed to be their primary concern. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said, “I think $95 is a little ridiculous. I understand it’s because we don’t have as much funding as other schools…but I know a lot of people who had to rethink if they even wanted to go just because the price was so high.” Several other students interviewed also cited the cost as the reason why they will not be attending.

Addressing these concerns, Sana responded that the pricing was outside of her committee’s control, saying “There was no way it could’ve been under $90 because of the cost for the dinner, photo booths, the venue, decorations, DJ, and everything else.”

Ms. Lajeunesse, one of the teacher organizers for Prom, provided The Reckoner with a breakdown of what each Prom ticket pays for, which is included in the accompanying graphic.

Thanking the seniors who had purchased tickets, Sana said, “My Committee and I have tried our best to make it great for you guys, so I really hope you guys enjoy the event!”