Prom

In all of the high school traditions which have developed in North America over the course of the past century, Prom night is the most famous, both in America and in the world. As a French citizen, I have had the rare luck to experience life in high school in North America, and thus to participate in the highlight of the last 5 years of our education, Prom night. As I stepped into my last year of high school, I was quick to realize that Prom night was a sacred event which must be carefully prepared for messing those 4 hours up which be the equivalent of messing up the five years of high school. At least, that is the opinion of the vast majority of the high school female population. Boys on the other hand, see Prom as a tradition that is not to be missed, but are generally more impermeable to the stress that this event causes to girls, especially on the matter of dresses. For boys, almost any suit is acceptable for Prom whereas for girls countless hours are spent on finding the perfect dress and fierce battles have been witnessed when two girls went to Prom with the same dress (in order to avoid this tragedy, they lately came up with the strategy of making a private "prom dress" group on facebook where each girl posts a picture of her dress). As months, weeks and days erode away and the fatal date is approaching, the entire female community is biting its fingernails as it seems that every girl has forgotten a vital detail for prom (dress, shoes, make-up etc..). Once again, the male community watches over the cacophony with a certain apathy.
Since Prom is such an important day, it must be remembered with pictures, but pictures must be taken carefully as to capture all the happiness radiating from happy Prom couples who put on smiles that are ever so real and really reflect reality. Unfortunately, it seems that such pictures cannot be taken during prom, for that would cause too much trouble, and besides, parents need to enjoy the sight of their beautiful children as well. That is how I became accustomed to the concept of pre-prom. Pre-prom is a little ceremony organized before prom in small circles of friends who enjoy champagne or any other fancy drink in the company of their parents and dates, while the first ones take pictures of the later, in order to remember for ever such a glorious day. Once that is done, the circles of friends must go from the house that was hosting the pre-prom to the prom. However, that must be done in style and rituals must be followed. A limo or a party bus must pick up the young promers and take them on a quick ride around town before going to prom in order to make the day really unforgettable and, of course, take more pictures.
Once at prom, one would assume that the one thousand photos taken at pre-prom would be enough but apparently not because the first hour of prom is spent taking photos with other circle of friends who just arrived from their own pre-prom. Once that is done, dinner will be served, a dinner which is actually very good, not to mention the desert, but that is not the point. After 3 or 4 hours, everyone has to rush to another person's house in order to get ready for after-prom (I cannot however, describe in detail how one gets ready for pre-prom for the sake of my mark in creative writing). In case one was wondering where the dancing we see in many American movies such as Grease or Return to the Future, one must know that times have changed, and that now the equivalent of the dancing at an '80s prom is the after-prom. For after prom, which takes place from 10:30 to 2am, we all go to a club downtown and dance frenetically to the rhythm of the latest top 20, which is actually very fun once you get into it. After a little thinking however, I realized that Prom was not so special because it was like a fancy dinner which we will often have in our adult lives and after prom is like a regular night in a club which we will often experience in our college life. But it is an important part of high school and a tradition which should travel to the rest of the world.

Graduation

June 3rd, 2011. two hundred and eighty-eight kids are marching on the stage of the Chan Center in gowns in front of a sea of proud families and mothers shining with joy. A huge smile can be seen on every face of the 2011 graduates which reflects all the pride they are feeling to be the subject of so much attention and applause. This is it. The last official ceremony of our high school life. After this, we will be unleashed into the wild world where for the first time in our lives, we will be able to make our own decisions as to where our lives should be headed. Some of us are more than eager to finally leave high school and finally turn the page of childhood. Others, like me, look in nostalgia at the end of an era when we were not yet fully responsible for ourselves, and thus free to make mistakes. An era when things had been planned for us by adults and we simply had to follow the path laid out for us. Many of us will be attending a university or college of some sort, and because of that we still know part of the path we are heading for. However, we will eventually all come to a point when we will no longer know exactly where we will be within the next month. This may seem scary to some, but should be seen as the beginning of our new lives in the real world, where opportunities come and go and where we can choose which path to take. Whatever happens, we, the graduates of 2011, are now in control of the future and how we want to shape the world in which we live, for we are the future.