Catie Hopkins ’13: After the unfortunate events of last year’s post-prom resulted in negative publicity for Episcopal, as well as trouble for students in the classes of 2013 and 2014, parents have expressed increased concern about a similar situation occurring in 2013.
In an effort to avoid another incident, The Episcopal Academy Parent’s Association (EAPA) has been working on creating a new activity for students to participate in after the prom, which may take the form of a parent-sanctioned after-party.
However, the negative consequences of one party should not affect all parties, most of which are safe and under control. Should the EAPA institute such a post-prom, students will also be more inclined to organize later parties without parents’ knowledge, thus jeopardizing the general safety of students.
Following complaints and worries from parents of V form students, the EAPA began looking into other potential options for after prom socializing. As of now, the EAPA has developed a survey that they plan to send to students and parents suggesting a course of action. Depending on the results of this survey, they may decide to take further actions in developing a parent-sanctioned after-party.
Naturally, most students are opposed to the idea of a school sanctioned post-prom party. Many believe that one incident should not dictate the course of action for all students. According to several in the VI Form, “no one will want to go to prom if it means they have to go to a school-supervised post prom.” Or, worse yet, one senior believes that “kids will find a way to get out of it.”
These feelings prove students will still want to throw their own parties, even after a school-sanctioned event. This could lead to an increase in legal incidents or danger to students. Parties would start later at night, or earlier in the morning, and then last longer if students were not allowed to leave the school events until midnight or even later.
Many parents who hosted after-prom parties last year managed to keep their parties under control, setting rules for where people could be, and checking bags for illegal substances. Having a student after-party does not require rowdy behavior or disruptive noise in the middle of the night. Now that people are aware of the consequences, they are actually more likely to be careful at future parties.
It has been evident that few things are going to force high school students to stop having parties, and pushing parties further into the night and early morning does not necessarily discourage parties from happening. Even at schools such as Conestoga High School, where according to their website, there is a parent committee that organizes “safe, fun-filled, alcohol-free, and drug-free celebration” after their prom, students still leave the school’s after-party and have their own, according to students who attended Conestoga prom last year.
Finally, students have parties throughout the year that occur without any sort of problems, and it would be a shame that the results of one post-prom last year should affect post-proms to come. Instead of trying to put in place a post-prom party for students and essentially forcing them to put themselves in more jeopardizing situations, parents and the EAPA should really consider the negative effects that such a sanction could create.
The spirit of prom coincides with an equal excitement for an after-party, a high school tradition for students of our generation. Moreover, this marks a celebration of the end of the school year, something that will occur regardless of whether or not a parent sanctioned post-prom is initiated. Trying to take that away will most likely be unsuccessful.

PDF Download