It’s prom season throughout the country and since I’m graduated and off at college going to a prom is not on my calendar for this year. But to be honest, it wasn’t on my calendar last year either. Yeah, you read that right, I skipped my senior prom. Before you think I’m some weirdo who is like anti-high school and skipped prom because I wanted to look cool, stop and don’t get ahead of yourself. Of course throughout the year, I had every intention of going to prom, but sometime around spring break I realized I wasn’t as into it as everyone else. I hadn’t even started looking at dresses and I wasn’t trying to find a date. So, I talked to my mom and we realized Busch Gardens was having a concert series free to Annual Pass holders and just like that the decision was made, so while all of my friends were awkwardly dancing with unknown juniors and spiking the punch, I was jamming to Austin Mahone and riding roller coasters. It sounds crazy and my mom was convinced that I’d regret my decision but it’s been a year and still I stand by my choice and let me explain why.

First, at my high school it’s a Junior/Senior prom and I went my junior year. So I knew what prom was like and to be honest, I wouldn't say that I really enjoyed prom junior year. Yeah, it was fun but only because I went with my two best friends and we acted as if it were just us three and we had our own little party. But as for the actual event, it was pretty mediocre. The decorations were so-so, but the theme was New York related so there wasn’t much to be done with a small budget. Also, I love to dress up and everything but the whole using all day to get ready and paying so much money for hair and nails and makeup is just not really my thing. I’m a pretty low-maintenance gal and would rather use that money for more important things like burritos or concert tickets. So that was a deciding factor as well, saving all of that money and putting it towards things that mean more to me. On top of all of this, I also skipped my senior homecoming dance, so when prom came around I was like “well, I already missed one what’s the harm in missing both?”

I don’t regret skipping my senior prom because I didn’t rely on the common high school go arounds to dictate my time as a Scorp. I didn’t find too much pleasure in the things that everyone said you “had” to enjoy. I went to Friday night football games, but I didn’t enjoy them as religiously as my fellow students did. I found my favorite high school memories involved random conversations during lunch with students I didn’t know well or receiving life lessons from my favorite teachers in the hall when I was visibly upset. I enjoyed mentoring the middle school students next door more than I did partying on a Friday night. Prom is just another thing society says you have to enjoy because it’s a part of the high school experience, but when you look farther than the surface of high school, when you step back and realize there’s more than the white walls and red lockers, you’ll realize that there’s also more than getting all dolled up for barely four hours of dancing on a Saturday night late in the semester.

I don’t regret skipping my senior prom because I was able to make memories with my sister which will always mean more than drinking an unknown drink that may or may not be spiked. I don’t regret not buying that $200 dress because that money was set aside for college and the things I would need for my dorm. I don’t regret listening to The Cupid Shuffle a million times because I don’t find pleasure in seeing girls ruin such a great dance by grinding on their barely mature dates. I know that some argue a deeper meaning to prom: it’s a night you’ll never forget and it’s your last night with your graduating class. I don’t know but I have a ton of great memories with my friends and the graduation class, like graduation itself or even the very first day of freshman year when we were all scared of starting something new.

I don’t regret skipping my senior prom because my high school memories aren’t found in risque dancing and drunken nights but rather lunch table laughs and final goodbye tears; late night studying with friends and senior skip days to the beach; Friday morning prayers with FCA and Peer Counseling food days full of mashed potatoes and games. Those are the moments I cherish the most the those are the memories I’ll always hold dear to my heart.