Swanky 1920s music trickled out of the smoky entrance of the Saticoy Country Club as magic filled the air at Foothill’s annual prom last night.
Most students attending the “magic” themed dance arrived at 6 p.m. after driving up the winding, pine tree-speckled road leading to the country club, where Foothill’s prom has taken place for three years.
“One of the reasons we use the Saticoy Country Club is that they give us a really good deal here,” said Principal Joe Bova. “We like the fact that the students have dinner here so they’re here early in the evening and so there are less issues with safety concerns.”
Once the students and their dates made their way through the eloquently decorated hallway, they were treated to a sit-down dinner. The dinner was a buffet consisting of potato salad, chicken alfredo, steamed vegetables, and a full salad bar.
Normally, music and dancing are the only entertainment provided for prom, but due to this year’s “magic” theme, a magician was hired to entertain the guests. Students and faculty alike gathered in a massive crowd on the balcony to watch James Kellogg perform his dazzling tricks.
“It’s always fun to see their reactions,” Kellogg said. “Some people [..] won’t make any face, but they’re so confused. So it’s fun to see whether people get confused or whether people scream and run away.”
Students were surprised to see some real magic happening at prom.
“I was not expecting an actual magician,” said senior Elizabeth Riddle. “It’s going to be corny whenever you have a magician, but it was pretty cool anyways.”
The task of organizing prom fell to the junior classes ASB officers including ASB Junior Class President Anna Cogswell.
“I’ve been working on this all year long, from planning, getting ahold of DJs and magicians and decorating, getting cards, getting all the decorations you see out,” Cogswell said. “It’s been part of the ASB team, part of what we put together. So it’s been a long, long road… I think it turned out great.”
After dinner and the ice cream buffet dessert, guests migrated to the dance floor located in the center of the dining room, where they danced to songs like “Pound the Alarm,” by Nicki Minaj and “C’mon,” by Ke$ha.
At the end of the night students gathered anxiously around the dance floor, awaiting the announcement of this year’s prom court. Seniors Kassia Bell and Vanessa Lopez were named princesses and seniors Martin Montez and Derek May were named princes. Finally, it was announced that seniors Amelia Gomez and Andre Sehati were the 2013 prom king and queen.
“When the prom queen gets called, I’m sure it’ll be Snapchatted, and Vined, and Instagrammed and Facebooked to everyone,” Gomez had said earlier that night. Little did she know that it would be her picture that would be “Instagrammed.”
With a crown for the queen and a magician’s top hat for the king, Gomez and Sehati shared a slow dance to “Feels like Home” by Chantal Kreviazuk, while couples joined in, swaying to the slow melody.
The slow dance abruptly transitioned from a melodic piano rift, to “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore, and the students erupted in a frenzy of dancing and jumping.
With lights flashing and bass pounding the walls of the club, teachers chaperoning the dance still managed to see through the modern music and strobe lights and feel the nostalgia that lingers with every prom.
“What’s beautiful about prom is it’s a constant and it’s classic and actually, although the times have changed, my prom was very similar to this in a lot of ways,” art teacher Justin Frazier said.
Whether it takes place in 1990 or 2013, one thing seems to remain constant at prom– the students say that they have a great time and will remember it for years.
Senior Katie Elvin said, “I loved it. I had a really great time.”
Credit: Josh Ren/The Foothill Dragon Press
