The high school tradition that had been taken from students by a pandemic was back this year, accompanied by the new normal of covid-19 precautions.
For Henderson, 18, and her family, her senior prom in late May was the last celebration before she left for college. She will be
Across the D.C. region, many high school seniors were able to go to a school dance for the first time in roughly two years, after school systems prohibited mass gatherings to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Prince George’s County Public Schools — which includes Flowers High School and After the venue came the next step of logistics — coordinating decorations. The school’s go-to decorationhad to improvise and find decor that would fit the prom’s theme: Hollywood.She found a 360 camera to capture panoramic photos of the celebrating students and set up aImani Brown, 17, and Mariah Mullins, 17 — both juniors at Flowers — blew up balloons hours before the event.
Flowers Principal Gorman Brown said the last event many of the 2022 graduating class attended before the pandemic began was their sophomore year homecoming. Many of the students had to adjust at the beginning of the school year to seeing peers they hadn’t seen in person“With the experience they had, it’s wonderful to see that they still get to do this,” Brown said.
“For the longest time, my mom was way more excited than me,” Patterson said. “But I think now, I’m definitely caught up with her in the excitement.”students arrived roughly an hour before to take photos and pose in front their families. One student was escorted by a motorbike motorcade into the building’s front loop. Others showed up in limos, drove or were dropped off by their parents.
As students mingled and danced, Mebane passed out a QR code for students to vote for prom king and queen.