Prom: The formal dance is one of the most memorable events in a high schooler’s life and a night that will be remembered forever. With La Salle’s prom only days away, The Falconer staff decided to ask faculty members to share photos and memories from their own prom experience.

Ms. Kerri Kelvin

“I worked at a tanning salon, so I was super tan (a weird artificial bronze color). My boyfriend du jour was an older college guy who went to Lewis and Clark. He rode a motorcycle.”

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Ms. Judi Powell (Johnson)

“Everyone went to dinner at the Thunderbird hotel and then prom together and I think that that is my coolest memory because it was just all of my friends, all dressed up, eating a fancy dinner together and then having the dance. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.”

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Ms. Rhonda Fisher

“We had dinner at the same place we had prom. All Student Council Officers sat at a table in the front of the room to eat. I was a little shy, so I was very uncomfortable eating in front of everyone. It was still a great time.”

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Mr. Mike Devenney

“It was 1971 and I rented the coolest Crush Velvet Purple tux you could get and used it to go to two proms.  On Friday night I went out with Susan to the prom at my old high school. On Saturday I went to the Saint Gertrude’s Catholic Prom with Debbie.

Saint Gertrude’s is an all girls school. Their sister school was Benedictine Catholic, an all boys military academy. All the Benedictine guys were wearing white coats with black pants. Since I attended Saint John’s Catholic, a rival of Benedictine, the Benny Boys thought I was wearing the purple tux as a way of making fun of them. I had no idea that I was supposed to wear a classic tux. I almost got beat up and Debbie and I left the prom early.”

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Mr. Tom Mclaughlin (Mac)

“Well, it has been 35 years, so I don’t remember a lot. I’m sure we had a live band and not a DJ, and that the band wasn’t all that great. Not that I remember, though, but because that’s what could be said of most of our dances back then. But I do remember pretty clearly a sweet kiss at the end of the evening.”

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Mr. Paul Dreisbach

“My prom was held in Monte Carlo (I finished high school in Nice, France) where the entire Junior and Senior classes (50 people total) went to a five-star restaurant for dinner before going to a night club for prom.  My best memory is the fact that the entire class and the teachers/chaperones danced until very early in the morning and then all went to get breakfast together in Monaco.”

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Mr. Jake Baertlein

“[While chaperoning La Salle’s prom], I enjoyed boogying down with the students and I know they truly appreciated my amazing dance moves. If any students would like I can show them some of my signature moves such as the ‘lawnmower’ or ‘spinkler’ and for the truly experienced dancers I will teach the ‘shopping cart’.”

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Ms. Elizabeth Elliott

“Other than asking my friend from homeroom in a letter and belting out Britney’s new song ‘Toxic’ at prom, my most vivid memory is getting ready with my closest friends before our parents did a big photo shoot!”

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Ms. Carie Coleman

“At the 1990 Pe Ell High School Prom I was a freshmen…because our school was so small (around 90 kids), all students were able to go if we were “sponsored” by an upperclassman. My date was Billy Bush, who was my first AND second boyfriend (long story). I was REALLY shy my first two years of high school…my friends in French I set us up during class!”

“That … picture was of our softball team. Wasn’t that original wearing all of our date’s tuxes? Brilliant!”

“My *all time* favorite picture is  … the 1991 Prom. That’s sophomore me (before I got my teeth knocked out two weeks later) being escorted by Roger Lopez, who was a freshmen. What could I say? I needed a date to the prom and how could I say no to a man wearing a sweater like that! Honestly, I don’t remember anything about that prom.”

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Ms. Amanda Jennings 

“The things I remember most about my prom are my dress (which my mom made Pretty in Pink style by combining dresses we found at thrift shops), getting ready with my friends at my house (pictured), and my boyfriend making dinner for us all and arranging for a few of our friends to serve us in tuxes and play the violin as we ate. I remember having fun at prom, but after 18 years- these are the more vivid memories that have stayed with me.”

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Ms. Amy Gantt

“For me, the most memorable part actually had to do with the after-prom party. In order to go to the party, you either had to be a senior or have a senior as a date. There was a group of 8 of us, 4 juniors and 4 seniors. In order for all of us to go, we switched around whose date was whose to get in. Once we were in, we went back in our original dates.”

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Mr. Chris Krantz

“The first thing you should know is that the girl I wanted to go to the prom with was already dating another guy, not seriously dating but definitely going out. So I decided I wouldn’t go to the prom. This upset my friends since apparently my not being there would negatively affect their good time. So they got together and voted for me for prom court. Again, I wasn’t going, but somehow they must have stuffed the ballot box for prom court because I was made a prince. So I had to go, or so it seemed. But the dinner tickets were too expensive and so was the tux and why, I wondered, would I spend all that money only to go alone. So my friends, one who worked at the tux store, got me a great deal and the prom committee decided I could just show up after the dinner and that way I wouldn’t have to pay for a prom ticket.

I didn’t have the heart to tell my family that I was going alone, so I got dressed and drove a borrowed family friend’s purple Cadillac to the beach (that would have been 30 miles from my house) to kill time. By the time I showed up to the hotel in downtown L.A., everyone had finished eating dinner and they were getting ready to announce the prom court. One by one they called us up to the center of the dance floor and we were then given the entire floor for the first dance. Immediately each prince and princess went to get their date to dance with but I, not having a date, had to think fast. I just stood there, looking out into the crowd of tables and my nicely dressed classmates.

And then I saw her, the girl I wanted to go to the prom with but who was already with a date. I don’t know what possessed me, but I walked over to her and asked her if she’d like to dance. To my surprise she smiled that big wonderful smile of hers and we glided onto the dance floor. I’m not a great dancer, but something must have happened on that dance floor, because she stayed with me the rest of the night–her date left early–and I took her home, in that big purple Cadillac.”

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Mr. Mario De Ieso

“Unfortunately… I was not able to find my prom pictures. I think my mom still has them. Anyway as far as what the most memorable thing about my prom experience was….well so at school we had this one teacher/coach who chaperoned our senior prom. He was maybe 30-35ish years old and he brought his girlfriend to help him chaperone. Well let’s just say they did very little chaperoning and way too much close and inappropriate dancing to go along with lots of making out on the dance floor. Their behavior was so inappropriate that many us students were embarrassed that one of the teachers would act like that. To use an ol’ school term I was totally grossed out. It was as if the chaperones were the ones needing chaperoning.

Other than that prom was a blast!”

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Mr. Larry Swanson

“I just remember that for dinner, twelve of us met in one of the guy’s formal dining rooms. The moms had made us dinner, and the little brothers and sisters dressed up as servers to wait on us. It felt very fancy!”

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Mr. Brian Devine

“I am happy to share a Prom disaster story.  Unfortunately I don’t have a photo.  I might have burned them all.  You’ll see why when you read below…

25 years ago this month I attended my Senior Prom. It was a disaster. As some of you know, I attended an all-boys Lasallian school in Philadelphia. This made getting a date to the prom a bit of challenge.  Luckily, the summer before my senior year, I traveled abroad to Ireland for a US exchange program where I met an amazing girl named Kierstin who was from Connecticut. We listened to the same music, she was a runner, she was hilarious. I fell head over heels for Kierstin from Connecticut. So much so that, when prom time came around, I invited her to fly from Connecticut to Philadelphia for the event. I even paid for the plane ticket.

When I first asked her she seemed thrilled and smitten.  However, when I picked her up at the airport she didn’t seem too excited about going and, as the afternoon wore on, and prom got closer she was more and more aloof.  While we were driving to prom she didn’t say a word. It was so awkward. Finally when we were dancing to the first song of the night she broke it to me: she was engaged to her ex-boyfriend.  Kierstin from Connecticut was engaged.  I brought an engaged girl to prom. I don’t remember much else from the rest of the night. I’ve tried to block out the details. OK I do still remember: we were dancing to Careless Whisper by Wham, I paid $93 for my tux and $57 for dinner. It was a lot of money.”

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Whose story or photo do you like the best? Let us know in the comments below!