Every year, Elder High School holds a mom Prom.

And it’s exactly what it sounds like. The students here at Elder High School take their mom to prom.

It’s a fun night! There is music, dancing, food, and even a place where you and your mom can get pictures done by a photographer to print out and cherish the memories forever. After the dinner, while everyone is finishing up eating, Principal Ruffing goes up and announces the prize winners. Only the mothers are eligible to win.

All the moms put their name on a ticket before they come to the dance. Then Principal Ruffing draws 46 names out of a hat to see who gets the lucky prizes.  Once we are down to about the last hour of mom prom, the DJ usually just plays a bunch of random songs to dance to. They are not any slow dancing songs, it’s more upbeat kind of dancing which makes it so much more fun. Mom Prom is an event I would encourage all elder students to attend, if possible, because it is one fun night.

I have attended Mom Prom the last two years. The first year I attended this event was last year. I didn’t expect many people to be there, and I didn’t know what to expect either. I was expecting us to just be with our moms at a table and slow dancing the whole time. That’s not what it is at all. You can sit at a table with all your friends and their moms also. Then they will call your table up one at a time to go get food for dinner. In my opinion the food was okay. Wasn’t too bad but wasn’t too good either. I liked how after we ate, we slow danced with our moms. My favorite part of the night is when the DJ allows the students to put in song requests. It goes from slow dancing music to rap. I just thought that was hilarious.

I was curious to know when the first Mom Prom was because I knew it has been going on here at Elder for years now. So, I asked Principal Ruffing if he knew. He wasn’t completely sure off the top of his head. But he was kind enough to find out for me.

When he figured out the exact day, he got back to me. He said, “Logan, the first Mom Prom was with the Class of 1983.” I wasn’t expecting it to be that long ago, but it’s a tradition that Elder should be proud to do every year. I am very thankful that Mr. Ruffing was able to dig deep into Elder’s past and find that information for me. So yes, the first Mom Prom was in 1983. WOW

I then wanted to see what a mom who attended Mom Prom thought about this event. So, I interviewed my Mom, Shannon Smith. I knew she has been the last two years with me and has loved it. The first question I asked my mom was why is Mom Prom so important to you?

She responded, “Mom Prom is important to me because you are growing up and spending more time with friends and working a lot, so I cherish the one-on-one time we get together.” I think she speaks for every mother with a high school child when she said they don’t get to spend one on one time a lot.

The next question I asked her is what makes Mom Prom so special? She said, “Mom Prom is special to me, especially because you are a senior, and next year you will be off at college, and I know the days of having you at home are growing shorter, so I enjoy spending a day like this with you, and I enjoy spending as much time as possible with you.”  I think every mom would agree with that also, because as seniors we are running out of time to spend quality time with family before we all must go and move out.

Mom Prom is an event at Elder that I would encourage all student to attend. It may seem boring at first, but if you go into it with an open mind, I promise you won’t be sorry. It gives you a great chance to spend some time with the person who brought you into this world. And you can also hang out with friends and have a good time. I would recommend you go to Mom Prom every year If you can make it, because it is one fun night.