Bickleton Prom: a Community Tradition

By JESSICA CUMMINGS
BICKLETON HIGH SCHOOL

BICKLETON — Bickleton High School students recently danced the night away at this year’s “Northern Twilight”-themed prom.

But it wasn’t just high school students who were doing the dancing.

What makes Bickleton’s prom different from most high school proms is that the community is invited, too.

“It’s a community event, and if the community didn’t come hardly anyone would be there,” says 38-year-old Robin Goodnight, whose children attend the Bickleton school. She says she has came to the community prom “on and off for 20 years.”

This year’s was “very fun,” she says. “It had a nice theme, the kids had a blast, and the music was wonderful.”

The juniors worked diligently this year, planning and putting on the prom, and most agreed the results were spectacular.

After walking through a tunnel and an archway of silver balloons, guests emerged on the edge of the dance floor, which was peppered with silver balloons and tinsel. Round tables covered with indigo tablecloths and surrounded by white, fabric-covered, blue ribbon-tied chairs were situated on the outskirts of the dance floor.

Jeweled table centerpieces, complete with electronic candles, glowed at each table. A deep blue backdrop covered with silver stars surrounded the dance floor. And strings of white lights wrapped in blue gossamer peaked from the walls to the ceiling, where a disco ball caught and reflected light onto the dance floor.

The decorations, says 16-year-old Johanna Jensen, “were really pretty. I think (the juniors) put a lot of effort into it and did a really good job.”

Tricia McBride, 17, the junior class president, says she “liked the decorations a lot, probably because I put them up and know how much time they took.”

Disc jockey Nahum Ray played a wide variety of music, from country and rock to fun songs like the Chicken Dance and the Electric Slide.

There’s no question: Bickleton School is a small school in a small community. Only 37 people — including teachers, community members and students, some as young as seventh-graders — attended this year’s prom.

Because there are only 15 teens in the top two grades, it really wouldn’t work to host a junior- and senior-only prom, as many other schools have. But students don’t seem to mind.

“I like the community thing,” 17-year-old Devona Kibby says of Bickleton’s prom.

Kim Clinton, 39, and Tom Whitmore, 49, are this year’s junior class teacher-advisors. They helped organize the prom and also attended the event. Whitmore is a former Bickleton High School student and says he has attended prom “every year since 1980 except for last year.”

In earlier days, the prom featured live bands, not DJs, he says.

“This year we had the fewest number of adults I’ve seen at prom, only about two couples who weren’t involved,” meaning they weren’t chaperones, Whitmore says.

“The set-up hasn’t changed much since I was in school,” he says. “They still only use part of the gym.”