The De Soto High School prom committee met on Nov. 6 to discuss leadership positions for juniors and to receive information about the Natalie M. Fashion show fundraiser for the 2018 prom.

Even though prom won’t be held until April 28, sponsor and the FACS teacher Caroline Friday explained that they started planning for the dance at the end of the last school year.

“There’s not a specific number of hours, but it does take a long time to plan [for prom],” Friday said. “We have to find a venue first and then there’s a lot of other things that go into it, like finding officers, deciding on a theme, coming up with decorations and shopping for decorations.”

One of the first things that the committee does is fundraise for the dance and, like past years, they are participating in the Natalie M. Fashion show.

“The Natalie M. Fashion show is our main fundraiser. The amount of money we make changes each year, but we try to have it be the majority of the money we fundraise so that we don’t have to sell a bunch of random things to parents or work at concessions stands at games.” Friday said.

Not only does the fashion show raise money for prom, but it also gives junior and senior students a unique opportunity to be part of a real fashion show.

“I’m excited for the fashion show because I’ve never really done anything like it and I think it’s a really good fundraiser,” said junior prom committee member Aylin Rocha said. “It’ll be fun because all my friends and I will get to dress up and walk down the runway.”

Since there are so many things that the committee has to accomplish, it is assigning class officers to be in charge of certain parts of the the dance. The positions include president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, fundraising manager and decoration coordinator.

Because she went to prom last year, Rocha hopes to be the committee’s president because she feels like she has good ideas to contribute due to her experience.

“I decided to run for prom class officer because last year, when I went to prom as a sophomore, I had a lot of fun and I really want to make prom for our seniors this year just as unique. As president, I feel like I would have a good say in how prom and after prom activities are done,” Rocha said.

Friday hopes that having officers will help organize all of the items that the committee has to get done as well as engage students into the responsibility of planning.

“It’s important to have people that are invested in what their prom experience is like,” Friday said. “Students need to be willing to fundraise and plan for their own prom so they can make it the experience that they want it to be.”

Due to their head start in preparing for the dance and the fundraisers they plan to do, the committee members are hopeful that they will create a memorable prom.