Following a year of unavoidable cancellations and uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic which rocked the world in 2020, Seminole Public School administrators have announced that the class of 2021 will indeed be given a prom.

Principal Wade Rigney assured he and his fellow faculty members, “want to send our kids off as well as we can,” and for them, prom was an essential component in this send-off.

However, although the event, which is scheduled to take place on the last Saturday in April, will be allowed to happen this year, additional precautions will still be taken in order to minimize any threat posed by COVID-19.

According to Rigney, in order for then to make the event as safe as possible under the current circumstances, prom will be held in a tent outside the high school which Bob and Sherweeta Benn have helped the school in procuring. “We are hopeful we will have good weather,” said Rigney.

Students’ temperatures will also be checked upon their arrival and they will be asked to wear masks for the duration of the evening. However, while masks will be a requirement, students will be allowed to remove them while in the designated photo stations in order to give them the opportunity to get a decent photo.

Since the event is to be held outside, Rigney does not foresee attendance numbers being a huge issue, but does affirm the school may take some measures in order to ascertain that number fairly early on so that they may prepare accordingly.

The current plan is to schedule prom from 8 to 11 at night, same as it would have been under normal circumstances. However, promenade, which will be held in the gym, may take place a bit closer to the start of prom than it has in years past. This, Rigney states, will make it possible for students to go directly from promenade to the actual prom.

If anyone has further questions about the guidelines of the event. Rigney stated they will have the opportunity to find out more at an upcoming parent-student Zoom meeting which the school will be hosting. For the event to be a success, Rigney believes everyone participating will need to be on the same page, and the meeting will help make this possible.

With these precautions established, Superintendent Bob Gragg asserted Rigney and those helping him have a good plan in place. “They’re gonna do the best they can,” he affirmed.