Sweet Home High ‘s prom moved to Corvallis Saturday night after years at the Sweet Home Elks Lodge.
“I just think everybody was ready for a change,” said Andy Ellis, who was student body president when the decision to move the event was made. “We are really appreciative of the Elks Lodge. The Elks was a good place, and we’re really glad they let us use it.”
The prom has been held at the Elks as far back as Activities Director Mark Risen can find out, more than 20 years.
“My hat’s off to the Elks,” Risen said.
Students thought a new venue, somewhere outside of Sweet Home, would be a little more special, Ellis said. The prom also had outgrown the Elks facility. “Even with the smaller classes the last couple of years, we were still packed in there. We like it. I think it’s almost unanimous throughout the student body.”
“It’s going to be a lot bigger,” Josh Bondesen said.
“It’s actually just a matter of attendance, more kids turning out,” Risen said. By the middle of last week, about 250 tickets had been sold to the prom, which was held at the Ramada Inn.
Students have an unspoken rule that only juniors and seniors attend the prom, Risen said. Some underclassmen usually attend when invited by a junior or senior, and others will simply attend.
“Driving out of town wasn’t a huge issue,” Ellis said. “One of the big arguments against it was the fact they didn’t want people driving out of town.”
But holding the event out of town may really mean less driving for students, Bondesen said. In the past, students would drive out of town for dinner, return to Sweet Home then leave again later to do something else. With the event in Corvallis, students won’t need to return to town, meaning less time on the road.
“We were the only school in the (Capital) Conference that didn’t have the event out of town,” Risen said. Some schools travel 60 to 70 miles for the prom. When discussion of moving the prom came up, school officials talked with other schools in the district to find out how they handle it.
The student leadership were trying “to create something fresh, a little newer, maybe to get more kids excited and more kids participating,” Risen said. “There’s other benefits to it too. It takes a lot of burden off of us because we don’t have to decorate the facility and take down the decorations.”
Ramada Inn handled decorations, sound and other items. The rental fee is higher, but the students are saving money on decorations.
Students raised the price of prom tickets to offset the cost increase, Risen said. To break even, 200 tickets had to be sold. The money from the extra tickets will go into the students’ account at the high school.
The leadership class has shown an interest in moving the prom for the last couple of years. As advisers, both Risen and his predecessor Steve Hummer generally support their class when it wants to do something. In this case, like others, the leadership group’s work is good for the school.
“Leadership kids always want to add more,” Risen said. “You’re working with 20 of the best kids in school. By that, I mean the most involved.”
By moving the event, between 50 and 60 hours of labor decorating is freed up for the leadership class. That means the students have more time for other activities.
“It only enhances our leadership program,” Risen said. “When the leadership program is enhanced, our school’s enhanced.”
The district provided alternate transportation for students’ whose parents may have been concerned about traveling out of town.