Prom by Mckayla A.

With prom coming right around the corner, I started to think about how prom first came about. When did the idea of prom start? Who thought of the idea? So with these questions always coming to my mind, I started to do research.

Prom was first mentioned in the high school yearbooks of the 1930s and 1940s, but historians believe they may have existed as early as the late 1800s. Prom used to be more of a formal dance back in the day. Prom was strictly chaperoned and often restricted to only the senior class. In the 1950s, a thriving postwar economy allowed high schools to avoid the traditional gymnasium in favor of proms held in hotels or at country clubs. The formal dance we now call prom, was first called “prom” in the 1890s. The word prom was shortened from the word promenade, meaning a march of the guests at the beginning of a formal event. Prom is a compelling event.

Today's proms have become expensive, all-night affairs with after-prom activities often extending very early into the next morning. Superior mustangs and trucks are seen driving down the streets. There are so many standards in prom nowadays ranging from how the boy asks the girl to go, to what kind of the dresses the girls get. Still, prom has begun to relax a little in its dating requirements. In practically every way, prom has moved beyond the days of strictly chaperoned, etiquette banquets to glamorous extravaganzas where nearly anything goes.