Will you be my date to prom?

By: Ryan Lim

No one wants to be alone on one of the greatest nights of the school year. Juniors and seniors have planned their prom night weeks in advance, but the initial step of asking a date to prom can be the most daunting part of the process. This year, some Clark Chargers decided to go the extra mile and come up with incredibly unique ways to ask out their date.

A slideshow surprise

Having to present a slideshow project to the class seems like an ordinary task, but senior Barada Moncravie took this task and added a unique twist.

Barada was in his first period AP Lit and Comp class and he and his group were presenting their slideshow. At the end of the slide show came a surprising slide.

The slide consisted of a picture of Barada’s back: shirtless and written on. The message read, “Nikki, go to prom with this guy”.

Nikki, or Nicole Arevalo, was seated during the slideshow and at the sight of the picture, was surprised.

“She said yes, we hugged, and that was that,” Moncravie said.

The to-do list worth completing

With summer coming around, seniors have a limited time to do what they’ve always wanted to do before they graduate.

For senior Luke Tanaka, that meant asking his girlfriend, Miwako Schlageter, to prom.

“[Miwako] said she wanted to get asked with a sign,” Tanaka said.

However, Luke didn’t just make a sign simply asking Miwako to prom, he added the personalization of making a to-do list sign for Miwako on her birthday.

“I wrote her a fairly long letter which had a few inside jokes and at the end I included directions to go to Dr. Wong’s room at the end of the period. I had a friend give her the letter, and after school, I waited by Dr. Wong’s room.”

Luke gave Miwako her birthday gift before she could see the sign, and when Miwako did see the sign, she said yes and the two hugged.

The American dream

For a lot of people, settling down in a nice house with a white picket fence is the American dream.

For Prom Princess Emily Strickler, that has been fulfilled… sort of.

Her prom date, senior John Diaz, utilized his crafty skills and created a little house with an interesting design. The roof read, “You have the house and the white picket fence, now all you need is a prom date…” and the fence read, “Emily, will you go to prom”.

John left the house on Emily’s desk in the student council room and hid in the closet.

“I was rather nervous. She took a REALLY long time to walk into the room after I had got there, which made it worse,” said Diaz.

When Emily did finally come to the room, she read the house, and as she was finishing reading the fence, John Diaz walked out with the last picket that said, “with me?!”

According to John, “She was excited and happy!” (and she accepted his offer).

The purrrrfect ask

When Nevin Endy decided to ask Cici Zhang to prom, he included some of the small things he knew about her to make his request more personal.

The first step in Nevin’s plan was to buy balloons in Cici’s favorite colors, pink and teal. The store didn’t have teal, so light blue was substituted.

Next, he went to Build-A-Bear and bought a stuffed cat, which is her favorite animal.

“The cool thing about Build-A-Bear is that you can buy a ‘record your own message’ type button that goes into your stuffed animal,” said Endy.

He hid the balloons and cat in a box equipped with a “guide” on how to open it. Nevin then left the box at the entrance of the orchestra room.

When Cici came, opened the box, and pressed for the cat’s message, Nevin came out of the orchestra room with flowers for her.

“She seemed to be very happy and I’m glad to call her my prom date,” Endy said.

Pleas work too

Although it’s conventional that a guy asks a girl to prom, Student Body President Mariah Eppes took matters into her own hands and asked junior Brent Mayfield to be her date.

According to Mariah, she actually BEGGED Brent to go to prom with her.

“I pretended to cry. It was great,” said Eppes.

After the show Mariah put up, Brent found it impossible to decline Mariah’s offer.

A prom fiesta

Continuing with ways girls have asked guys to prom, I was asked in a pretty interesting way also.

During my student council period, we were busy making signs for the assembly when I was told that I, along with Shawnell Riggins, were selected to win a Student Council prize.

I was blind-folded and guided into a Student Council closet.

When given the go, I removed the blindfold and saw Dani Gonzalez, Maricruz Soto-Valdez, and a piñata.

On the floor were eight or so party favors and I was told the right one had a message written on it. One by one, I blew on them, and when I got to the last one, the message said, “It would be a fiesta if you went to prom with us!”

I undoubtedly said yes, and took pictures with Mari and Dani.

These were just some of the ways Clark Chargers have asked their dates to prom this year. Asking someone to prom may be nerve wracking, but the more creative you get, the better your chances are.