With prom just around the corner, many Columbia Heights High School students are scrambling to get their corsages in order, their limousines reserved and their masquerade masks prepped for the first school dance in over a year.

Previously, upperclassmen would simply buy their tickets before school in the main hallway at a table headed by the prom planning committee. The actual night typically began with the Grand March, a chance for prom attendees to get photos taken at the front of the high school and to socialize with friends and family. The high school also previously offered a cheap shuttle ride to and from the venue at US Bank Stadium, with a stop at Olive Garden scheduled before arriving. The dance would start, with Prom King, Queen, Prince and Princess being announced midway through the night and prom ending around midnight.

The high school is putting stealthy effort into making sure that COVID-19 protocols are followed this spring. There will, unfortunately, be no Grand March this year; instead, students will have to take their own pictures. Attendees are also asked to get their own ride, masks are required for entry and there will be no food or drinks aside from water (which will have to be drunk seated at a table). Lastly, tables will be limited to six students a piece.

On top of that, only 150 tickets are being sold this year. The plan is to have tickets on sale only to seniors up until May 1, since for many this will be their first prom and their last high school dance. If all 150 tickets are sold by then, sales will open to juniors as well as seniors who are planning to bring an underclassman. Students who are attending the dance must be current Columbia Heights High School students, with no alumni or students from other schools allowed.

Prom is happening on May 15 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. at US Bank Stadium. Tickets are to be bought online for $20 each (click here), then after a confirmation message is sent, you can show Ms. Helen Tomas in the front office to get a hard copy version that is to be brought to the venue the night of prom. 

Who is to know when the next pandemic might hit and cause a mass shutdown of social events? If you are an upperclassman debating on whether or not to go to one of the last—and only—big events of the school year, seize the opportunity if possible and celebrate the home stretch of this hectic year.