The shine of the shoes across the length of the dance floor, makeup of perfect proportions, alongside flashing lights across the stage, there’s a lot more that goes into a prom than one would expect. 

Every year, the prom is handled by a group of sponsors that help prepare for the dance by getting together all the necessary attributes such as finding a venue and getting decorations, along with many more details. This year’s prom committee is led by co-sponsors, Broadcast Adviser Anthony Garcia and Assistant Dance Director Katie Thompson, who are collaborating for their first time this year.

“I think the best part of being a co-sponsor of prom is just whenever the whole thing comes together and you get to see students celebrating, having fun and enjoying themselves,” Garcia said. “[Prom] really is just a great time for all of the students to get to celebrate after years of schooling and high school, and at this point hopefully they know what they are doing for after school. It’s a way to end the year with a big celebration with their friends and dress up and so I think it’s well deserved we get to help make that night as fun as possible.  

This year’s prom will take place at the UT Alumni Center, a venue located in the heart of Downtown Austin right next to the UT Stadium. According to Garcia, the venue-searching process started right after last year’s prom in April and consisted of a lot of communication and searching to find the perfect spot. 

“[We] ended up deciding to go with the UT Alumni Center,” Garcia said. “It’s just a great central location downtown, and so that downtown element kind of led us to go with this Austin City Limits, City Lights type theme to embrace the downtown area, and so [Ms. Thompson and I] went to several venues before that, got several feedback from students and ended up going with that.”

The prom theme for this year is “Under the City Lights,” which had been selected by the student body after a close vote against the other highest-voted theme, “Enchanted Forest.”

“I think the theme is really cool and the decorations that we have planned are going to be really awesome,” Thompson said. “The venue is really cool as well– instead of last year where it was all in one spot, we kind of have it spaced out this year, so it should be really cool. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone.”

Despite this being her first year fully helping Garcia out with preparing for prom, Thompson has had experience with event planning prior, graduating from Cedar Park High School in 2011 in order to pursue a degree in event planning and coordination. 

“I like corporate-big events, live events, that kind of stuff,” Thompson said. “I just like being a chaos coordinator. I work well under pressure. I thrive in that environment and I think it’s fun to see when you’re leading up, planning towards a big event.”

With a prom comes all the variety of dresses and suits that come with it, and to help people who were in need to find something to wear to prom, Leander Clothes Closet hosted an event at Leander High School in late March where people could come by and pick up a limited amount of items for free such as clothes and jewelry, which also allowed students opportunities to volunteer, such as senior Ava Callaway.

“I really liked being able to set up everything and make everything organized,” Callaway said. “I would get dresses, I would turn them the right way and put them in their specific size on the racks, and that was really cool because I was able to go through all of them and look at them for myself and just be able to make sure they were all like, in okay condition and all that stuff.”

Juniors and seniors interested in going to prom this year can purchase tickets for $60 on the CPHS Webstore starting April 18. Students must have any hours owed completed in order to attend. The dance will be on April 29 from 7 to 11 p.m.

“Prom is the last hurrah of the year,” senior Katie Whitmarsh said. “I’m excited to see everybody that comes and see everyone’s outfits, and I feel like it’s just a good time to get everybody together and celebrate before the year is over before we wrap up and part ways.” 

Voting for Prom King and Queen nominations is open now until April 6 in “Class of” Google Classrooms.

Prom Tickets will be available on the CPHS Webstore starting April 18: Purchase Here