Asking a date to prom is never an easy task. The idea of rejection, pressure to come up with a creative “promposal,” and there is the very real worry that someone else has already asked the person you wanted to ask to prom. But students attending Corona Del Mar High in California may not have to worry about any of these problems. Their principal, Kathy Scott, has threatened to cancel prom after the students there have set up a “prom draft.”
The idea for the prom draft originated from the NFL draft. The NFL draft is an annual event hosted by the National Football League. During this event, football teams select eligible college players to be on their teams. The students at Corona Del High took this concept applied this to picking prom dates. Male students within the school then had the chance to buy draft tickets and attend the drafting ceremony, during which the students could pick the girl with whom they wanted to go to prom. Whether or not the females were rated and ranked remains up to debate. Some boys, in an attempt to select a specific girl with whom to go to prom, spent up to $140 for an earlier pick.
The prom draft has received mixed reactions within the high school. Some students find the draft to be offensive and degrading to females. Others accept the draft and do not find it offensive. One female student stated, “There’s still a chance of us saying no.”
School officials have taken steps toward disciplining the students involved in the draft. As mentioned before, Principal Kathy Scott has threatened to cancel prom. In an email sent home to parents Scott urged parents to discuss the seriousness of the activity with their children and stated that “Prom is an important event in the lives of [the] students and [she] would hate to have to cancel it or any other important student related activity due to the negative actions of a few.”