Many seniors and juniors look forward to prom, the highlight of the school year. The AHS prom was held in the Commons on April 23, 2022. According to many, many people, this year’s prom was the best they’ve ever had.

This year’s junior class put a lot of effort into organizing this prom. They’ve had lunch meetings once a month from September until Christmas and then every two weeks. Kaigan McBride, Simmi Kaur, Annaka Digmann, Peyton Kindred, Maribel Carrillo, Olivia Michael, Evan Hadden, Carver Hauptmann and of course Mrs. Hiemstra and Mrs. Roberts organized this year’s prom. Together they choose the theme “Northern Lights”. A few more juniors helped decorate the Commons and the PAC the day before. The DJ for prom this year was DJ Marek. Roberts stated that she “found him years ago and booked him for many proms before, except one.” DJ Marek came all the way from Rapid City, SD during really bad weather. Roads closed after he passed them, snow, and extreme wind. All together more than 120 attended prom and very few left early unlike other years.

This year’s after prom was a huge success as well. 146 sophomores through seniors attended, six didn’t show up and another six left early. “Organizing after prom starts in January with a few monthly meetings. About six weeks before Prom, we started to have weekly meetings” stated Sherri Stoike. “We had roughly 27 parents who volunteered their time to organize after prom and to make sure it ran smoothly. [The] goal was to keep kids safe while they are having a good time and go home with  prizes and many memories.” She and Wendy Fritzler were in charge of prizes and entertainment and everything that goes with that. They had three moms who organized all of the food and a group of four moms who planned the games. They had another 10-12 parents who helped run the games. One mom, Carrie Winter, was in charge of registrations and she had a team of six who helped her the night of. There were nine games where you could win a ticket for the prize wheel. These included  “This Blows”, “Cookie Monster”, “Stack Attack”, “Elephant March”, “Face the Future”, “Defying Gravity”, “Movin’ it Up”, “Cereal Bracelet”, and “Bounce a Pencil.” Along with those games the students were able to ride a mechanical bull, play cornhole, ping pong, hungry hippos, connect four, and there was a roping dummy. 

After about an hour of playing games and winning prizes, the students went to the PAC where the hypnotist Fred Lee waited for them. “That was our first year with Fred Lee. We had other hypnotists in the past as well as a ventriloquist” stated Stoike. Lee first did tricks with the crowd and then got a couple people on the stage to hypnotize them. He had a show for about one and a half hours. Everybody had a lot of fun seeing their classmates hypnotized. After his show was over, Stoike sent guests (out of town), sophomores and juniors back to the gym where they got prizes. Seniors had to pick a ping pong ball with a number on it before they went to the gym in order to get their prizes.

All together Prom and After Prom were a huge success. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped organize and made the night unforgettable!