On the evening of May 4, juniors and seniors attended NDB’s annual prom at the Grand Bay Hotel in Redwood City. The venue was decorated with flowers, fairy lights, vines and candles to reflect this year’s theme of “Happily Ever After.”
It is traditionally planned by the senior class council and senior class coordinators, who work diligently throughout the year to ensure the night is one to remember.
“Planning started a year ago to secure the venue, but most of the tasks began in November,” said Senior Class Coordinator Kate Mahoney. “Some of those tasks include picking a theme, securing a DJ and photo booth, buying decorations, choosing the menu, working with the venue on the layout of the main dance room, getting the ticket sales launched and setting up the decor the day of.”
Senior Class President Cailin Thompson led the class council by thinking about what the students would enjoy best and kept in mind that her main priority was creating lifelong memories for those in attendance.
“My favorite part of planning was figuring out the theme and finding all the fun decorations, like flowers and lanterns,” said Thompson. “I just hope that everyone had fun dressing up and hanging out with their friends and is able to look back in a couple of years and say that they were so glad they went.”
Upon entering the hotel itself, guests were welcomed by a walkway lined with vines and candles while the room adjacent to check-in contained a photobooth and glitter tattoo station. In the ballroom itself, multicolor lights illuminated the room, and the walls were lined with food and water stations. A highlight of the night was a dessert table with a sundae bar and chocolate-covered strawberries.
Another notable aspect of the night was prom court, where usually two seniors get voted prom queen and princess alongside two Serra HS seniors who also get voted by their peers. However, this year, a junior and her date had the chance to be crowned prom princess and prince.
Junior Nina Wall and her date were selected as prom princess and prince, while senior Julia Chapman and her date were chosen as prom queen and king. Following this announcement, the winners performed a short slow dance with a spotlight over them before the rest of the prom attendees joined in with their dates and friends.
“My favorite part of the night was prom court,” said junior Olivia Caballero. “I thought it was really cute that the winners got a sash and a crown.”
Finally, this prom was especially memorable for the seniors as they experienced their final high school dance at NDB. As they captured their last prom photos, they reflected on the first dance over Zoom as freshmen and their last one as they prepare to graduate.
“My takeaway is that prom is really fun because you get to see everyone you normally see in a class setting having fun all together,” said senior Ava Nekoomaram. “My prom experience at NDB has been very memorable and will definitely be something to remember about high school.”
