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Health & Fitness

Student Framework Of PHS Prom: The Prom Chairs

The student population of Pennsbury has a huge impact on the visuals of prom. In particular, the prom chairs head this magical student production.

Every Tuesday, Thursday (and as prom nears, Saturday) the East Gym and hallways bustle with kids bringing landscapes and fantasies alive on paper murals, refilling paint, and excitedly discussing the details leading up to May 19.

Scattered throughout the building, focused on keeping this workload from transitioning into chaos are the prom chairs -- the student backbone to this unequaled event. These seniors provide the organization and student voice needed to trudge through the committee's to-do list, and to do so to the standard of PHS prom. The time these students spend is an exceptional compliment to their dedication. Hours upon days, upon weeks, upon months invested birth the stunning atmosphere that engulfs the highly-anticipated night.

Between brushstrokes, Devon Larason lets me know just how long a visual production like this takes to plan out from the student perspective. She explains that the selected chairs had been, if they chose, working on designs since this past summer. It’s at this time they begin bouncing ideas off the others in their designated group, that will end up landing on some gigantic slabs of paper donut taped up to all the unseen walls almost a year in the future.

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It is really a process. Melissa Aguilar, another chair, mapped it out; if the pictures they wish to eventually paint are reproductions of specifics, they can print something found online, make it into an overhead, (these we see sometimes lying around the gym floor for reference) and project it onto a mural, where it is then traced.  A single mural, the focus of one group, may require several of these transfers. 

But the time spent extends well beyond the summer. The chairs meet up every Wednesday, at EOP, in addition to attending the prom committee three days a week. Although it is an unquestionably grueling commitment, there’s no denying the reward. Washing off the brushes after a Saturday’s work, Amanda Wunder tells me with a laugh, that her favorite part is being able to tell people what to do, and I can’t see how the authority couldn’t be some fun. Along side her, Lauren Konyves adds that she will most enjoy seeing her own designs hanging up when prom comes. They agree on how satisfying it will be to see their hard work on display during the best prom around. Melissa Aguilar says simply, that it’s about being a part of something bigger.

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The ethic of these teens is really admirable, not to mention how friendly they are through it all.  Each day the painting starts up again, the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors flood the halls and gym, and the chairs submit themselves to lots of questioning, and give an equaled amount of kind advice.  They may politely come by and tell you, for instance, to fix up that spot on the mural you’re both working on, and keep an eye on its progress for the remainder of the day, making sure everything goes smoothly.

If they’re really exhausted and agonizing over the coming days’ tasks, I certainly can’t tell.  

All in all, these behind the scenes workers are vital to the unparalleled production that is Pennsbury prom and all its staggering aesthetics. So, when overcome by the conundrum of just how you’re actually walking through the cafeteria, gym, and East halls the day of prom, just turn to the prom chairs to fill you in on its intricate reality.  

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