The cheerleaders of Hastings High have put in months of preparation leading up to one special night: prom.
This is the first year that the cheerleaders have been put in charge of prom. In previous years, Delta Fajardo and the debate team have decorated the gym and planned for the night, but this year the school decided to change up the committee.
“It’s like a fundraiser for us, so whatever we spend minus whatever we make is what we end up getting for our program,” cheer coach Brenda Opbroek said.
As for this year, the cheerleaders wanted a clean slate, starting with a new theme.
“We just wanted something different. We had other options like ‘Under the Sea’, but they were more common. Brenda came to us with the ‘Hollywood’ idea and we thought it would be a fun and bright theme,” junior cheerleader Beatriz Ramirez said.
The team voted on the theme and started planning early.
“We started meeting about three months ago, once every other week, to start deciding what we wanted to do. It’s progressively picked up from there. Most of our decorating will be done Friday,” Opbroek said.
The theme, Hollywood Glitz, consists of variations of red, black, gold, and silver as well as other decorations incorporated in Hollywood.
“Because it’s Hollywood Glitz, we’re using a lot of lights. Our table decorations are vases with little lights, trees out front with lights. It’s just kind of a simple glitz feel,” Opbroek said.
Prom is scheduled from 8-11 p.m. The candidates for this year’s royalty were announced on April 24. Senior royalty will crown king and queen and juniors will crown prince and princess. The nominees for king are Burke Todd, Christian Creech, Connor Laux, Kai Anderson, Ruben Gama, and Josh Brooks. The nominees for queen are Julia Reimer, Leah Smith, Haylee O’Connell, Morgan Long, Haley Mazour, and Jennifer Boeve. The nominees for prince are Osvaldo Diaz, Jackson Hoops, Dylan Lemke, Alex Swoboda, Dawson Jacobus, and Trev Peterson. The nominees for princess are Hope Kohmetscher, Kylie Hanna, Cheyanne Axtell, Erin Hunt, Lillian Kingsley, and Hailee Stark. Winners will be crowned during prom, around 9.
Post prom will take place at the 18th street YMCA from 11 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. In order to be admitted into post prom, you must arrive no later than midnight.
Tickets will be for sale outside Dr. Szlanda’s office from April 23 through April 27. Prom tickets are $15 for a single and $30 for a couple. Post prom tickets are $5 per person.
Whether you’re going alone or with a group, stop by prom to see the hard work that the cheer team has put in.
