Haines high schoolers attend Hollywood themed prom

Haines high schoolers enjoyed their prom Saturday night, April 30. As KHNS’s Corinne Smith reports, students in grades nine through 12 were dressed in their best for the Hollywood themed night.

A group of Haines juniors and smiling parents are gathered at the cruise ship dock for photos ahead of prom. The air is still warm from what feels like the first blue sky spring day of the year. The snowy mountains across the Lynn Canal make a dramatic and classically Haines backdrop.

“Ok, let’s see the nails,” says parent and school photographer Sam McPhetres.

The theme of the night is Hollywood. Long silky gowns, heels and crisp suits were ordered online months before. The junior class was charged with planning the prom, says seventeen year old Allison Benda.

“The junior class has been working really hard to make this prom really good and fun for the seniors and for the rest of the high school. And so we fundraised a lot of money, and we carefully selected decorations and our whole class worked on it,” she said. “And so we just really wanted to make sure the prom, their last prom would be really nice.”

After the photo shoot, the students pile into cars and head over to the Southeast Alaska State fairgrounds, where the student prom committee and staff have transformed Harriett Hall for the occasion.

There’s a red carpet at the entrance, and paparazzi in the form of teacher Matt Davis. Music is DJ-ed by art teacher Giselle Miller, the mocktails are served by teachers Natalie Benassi and Denise Sherman. 

“I’m so excited,” said Junior class president Jacob Weerasinghe, one of the lead organizers. “I’ve had people come up to me because they have heard this vision since last May, and they’ve been like, so excited. And I just love seeing the faces, the smiles on their faces and all the excitement and all like the surprise by the staff. Because nothing like this has been kind of done before. Yeah, we have prom, but we’re kind of, we took it over the top, I feel like with our class.”

Masks were required last year due to COVID-19, and the 2020 event was canceled. This year, with community cases low, masks are optional and worn by a few students. 

Wersingha says prom is about celebrating the graduating seniors, and there are a few surprises in store for the night.

“We wrote clapboards for them, like Hollywood clapboards. We did funny jokes on them as well, and so we’ll be presenting them. We have a stage where a student is going to rap later tonight. And just other fun things that make it more than just a dance.”

Surely, it was a glamorous night to remember.