05/02/2009

By KIM GRIZZARD  / Associated Press

Concerned that the economic downturn might keep some students home from the prom, one local school decided instead to keep the prom at home.

Ayden-Grifton High School held its prom on a recent Saturday night in the school cafeteria. It's the first time the event has been held on campus in decades.

"Everything's more expensive than it was last year," said Jeffrey Wilson, an Ayden-Grifton senior and prom committee member. "The DJ's gone up. Food's gone up. So the only resort, unless you didn't want to have a prom, was to have it here."

The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that Prom committee members worked for hours on a recent Friday covering a mural with sheets of fabric and gossamer to convert the lunchroom setting into a "Midnight Masquerade." Students in Susan Dawson's foods classes prepared cake, punch and other refreshments for the event, which has been held for several years at the Ayden Golf and Country Club.

Pitt County's other public high schools also hold proms off campus. J.H. Rose had its prom at Rock Springs; South Central will rent the facility on May 9. Farmville Central will use the Greenville Country Club, D.H. Conley High School will use the Greenville Convention Center and North Pitt High School will rent a ballroom at City Hotel.

Prom adviser Kim Harris said facilities rental is a budgeting challenge for Ayden-Grifton, which at about 650 students has the smallest enrollment of any high school in Pitt County.

"We only have on average, 180 students coming to the prom," she said. "It's a big difference, trying to raise the money."

Schools fund their proms through ticket sales, with students paying between $20 and $45 each for admission. Ayden-Grifton Principal Bill Frazier wanted to see his school reduce its prom fees this year to $20 to $15 per student. He thought eliminating rental fees, which can save a school $1,000 or more, seemed like a good move.

"We just had our military ball about two weeks ago. A lot of the same kids attended that as well," Frazier said. "Things are so tight. With the state of the economy, it's a natural thing to do now."

Ayden-Grifton is not the only school taking steps to save on its formal dance. D.H. Conley prom adviser Natalie Evans said the school has cut its prom decorations budget in half this year.

Instead of ordering from specialty catalogues, the prom committee is making more props to complement the Las Vegas theme. Students have recycled some decorations from previous years and have relied on donations of materials because of an anticipated drop in ticket sales.

Evans, who has been helping organize Conley's prom for 10 years, said that a decade ago, the school might sell 600 tickets to the prom. But there has been a decline in recent years. There were about 300 tickets sold for last year's prom.

"A lot of your middle schools have proms," Evans said. "These kids buy the dresses, rent the limos. When they get to high school, it's nothing new."

One new addition for Conley this year was a prom closet. Started by teacher Kim Daniels, the program provided donated dresses to students who could not afford them.

Dawson said her students at Ayden-Grifton were also having to resort to creative ways to find clothes for the prom.

"We have had a lot of kids whose families have been affected by job cuts," Dawson said. "I've had some that said, 'Ms. Dawson, my dad got laid off. I don't have the money.'"

Harris said the burden was especially great for seniors, who have graduation expenses to be paid before June.

"I've had seniors talk to me because in addition to their graduation fee, their cap and gown ... having to buy a dress or a tux and then having to buy prom tickets, it's just way too much for them this year," she said. "We just had to prioritize."

For some students, the prom appears to be recession proof. Ayden-Grifton senior Kelly Brock, a prom committee member, said that many of her classmates were not allowing the economy to alter their prom plans.

"Girls are still going to get their hair done. They're still going to get their nails done," she said.

Some attending the recent Saturday prom even rented a limo to drive them to the cafeteria, where the school literally rolled out a red carpet to greet them.

According to PromSpot.com, Americans spend $6.6 billion a year on proms, including $60-$80 for prom tickets. Frazier sees the spending as excessive, especially in the current economy.

"I think the prom has gotten kind of out of hand," he said. "To me, it's gone overboard. (Moving the prom back to school) may be a way of readjusting that."