Promposals are embedded in high school culture across the US, and PCDS is not immune. What started as a simple “Will you go to prom with me?” has transformed into an elaborate performance. Glitter, posterboards, costumes, and even U-Haul trucks are now precedents for asking a once-simple question.
The tradition of “promposals” has grown with the rising popularity of social media, with hundreds of unique promposals shared and liked millions of times. Trending promposals range from people holding witty signs in costumes to setting up intimate candlelit scenes.
(Ronnie Ross)
PCDS students are not absent from this trend as anticipation grows for the dance. Sophomore Ronnie Ross shared that promposals are really sweet and can be “extremely meaningful.” For his first promposal last year, he said, “I came out in a flying squirrel costume with a sign that said ‘Will you fly with me to prom?’”
However, not everybody is on board with promposals. One anonymous student stated that they can sometimes be overwhelming for the person asking and often involve significant pressure. When they were asked how they would want a promposal, they simply stated: “Just straight up ask.”
Sophomore Jacey Sellers shared a similar sentiment when talking about the heightened pressure because of the internet: “There is a lot of comparing other people’s promposals on the internet to your own.” When asked if she would request not to be promposed to, she said it would be “offensive because it’s essentially saying don’t do something nice for me.”
Sophomore Jyothi Patil disagreed, saying that they are a “great way to show that you care about someone.” Juliana Crisalli, a junior at PCDS, said she loves promposals and enjoys having a memento from the moment she gets asked. Junior Grant Ardebili, who promposed this year, originally described promposals as “corny,” but later stated, “They are all worth it if [the person] feels appreciated.
For junior exchange student Mia Blaes, promposals are a foreign tradition to her. Her exposure to promposals before coming to the US was on social media, and she said that “there is nothing like [them] in Germany.” While she acknowledged the pressure and anxiety for the person promposing, she said that they are cute and “definitely something to look forward to.”
Promposals are so big at PCDS that one was done during a senior speech just three days before prom. Senior Akul Kuppannagari was speaking to the Upper School in Dorrance about the importance of confidence when he promposed to senior Alexa Schaefer. Kuppannagari said that he “wanted people to remember it” and that “it would be a good display of confidence.”
As both anxiety and excitement ramp up, promposals are in full swing among the student body. Whether you’re wearing a costume, making a cute sign, or experiencing a promposal for the first time, it is undeniable that they are ingrained in prom tradition.
