Over the past year, seniors at Bradford Area High School have missed out on homecoming celebrations, Winter Carnival, the Valentine’s Day Dance and pep assemblies, but if all goes well they will be able to attend an in-person prom on June 2 and graduation June 3.
Bradford Area School District board president Shane Oschman said the plan is to conduct the two events, pending any upticks with the pandemic.
“It is our plan to have a seniors-only prom on the night before graduation,” Oschman said. “The reason for that is this way there is no chance that somebody would be diagnosed with COVID (after attending prom) and end up missing graduation.”
Oschman said the prom, slated to be held from 6 to 9:30 p.m., will not look like the usual event of pre-pandemic years.
“It will not all be in one space, it will be in multiple spaces so the seniors are able to spread out a little bit,” Oschman explained. “They intend to utilize large group space, such as the cafeteria, the auditorium and the gymnasium — this is so everybody won’t be in the same space at the same time.”
He said both events are the direct result of seniors from the Student Council asking administrators if they could have a senior prom as they hadn’t had a junior prom.
Oschman said the outside graduation will be held at 7 p.m. June 3 on Parkway Field, with a covered stage set up in the field for graduates to walk across. A rain date will be in place to ensure the event is held.
Oschman said the district really wants the events to happen as the “seniors have been just tremendous over this past year of following all of the necessary recommendations and mandates.”
Student Council president Grace Dalton, and faculty advisor Jennifer Barnes provided more comments and details on the upcoming events. Barnes noted Marisa Cleer, prom advisor, also helped with the planning of both events.
“We’re actually very grateful (about the events), we had met with Mrs. Pude in March and we kind of bounced around some ideas,” Dalton said of her meeting with Superintendent Katharine Pude. “It’s kind of been a waiting game with COVID and what’s going on in our district. I’m really glad we’ve been able to pull together a plan and to execute both of those plans.”
Barnes said Student Council members will make decorations for the prom, albeit on a scaled-back level as the materials will be placed in three different locations.
“Plus with the spacing and COVID guidelines, we won’t be able to meet the square foot (requirements) for each student,” she added.
Dalton said the prom won’t have a theme, as it would be difficult to get specific decorations for the spread-out event.
“I think that would be stretching ourselves too thin,” Dalton admitted. “We all kind of decided that it didn’t really matter how elaborate the decorations are, as long as we can just be together.”
Barnes said the students will rotate through the different locations.
“Depending on the location where they start is where they will enter the school,” Barnes remarked. “We’ll have the auditorium, the front door and Willard Avenue” entry points for the corresponding locations.
She said health screenings will be conducted at entry to the sites, as well. Police patrols are also expected to be present at the various entry points to ensure the event is attended primarily by the students. Photos of the event are expected to be posted on the school’s Facebook page.
“We want to make sure this goes on for those seniors who are well-deserving, because they haven’t had much this year,” Barnes stated. “And we want to make sure they get both to the prom and graduation.”
As for graduation, Barnes said four tickets will be provided to each student for their guests. Logistics regarding public seating at the event are still under review. In addition, graduation ceremonies will be live-streamed for the community to watch online.
