Seniors at Riverside-Brookfield High School will have the chance to go to a prom this year — something of a masked ball since face coverings will be required.
Last week school officials announced that it will hold a senior-only prom on May 27, the night before graduation, on an outdoor patio at the Hyatt Lodge hotel in Oak Brook on the scenic former McDonald’s campus.
“Obviously our seniors have missed out on a lot of opportunities throughout their senior year and so we wanted to have kind of a culminating event that was safe but also had an opportunity for them to get together with their classmates and to celebrate each other as they head toward graduation,” said Dave Mannon, the Assistant Principal of Student Affairs at RBHS.
Only RBHS seniors will be allowed to attend the prom. No one who is not a RBHS student, including dates, will be allowed to attend.
The class of 2021 missed out on prom last year, homecoming this fall and many other milestone events and many seniors have been getting COVID vaccinations shots recently, so a good percentage of the prom-goers are likely to be fully inoculated by the time of the prom. Face masks will be required and social distancing will be enforced, or at least encouraged, at the prom.
If it rains, the prom will be moved indoors at the Hyatt Lodge where there will be multiple rooms available to encourage social distancing.
“The Hyatt’s been amazing,” Mannon said. “They are going to allow us to pretty much have use of all their indoor venues.”
Students will be required to get to and from the prom on their own unlike in recent years when the school provided, and required, bus transportation to the prom. When students purchase their $75 prom tickets, they will be required to sign a liability waiver.
School officials had been considering holding the prom, or some type of gathering, at the RBHS football stadium, but many students feel that an off-campus location will make the prom a special event.
“I know that a lot of kids are happy that it’s ending up at the Hyatt this year,” said senior Isabella Linarez. “If it was at RB, I’m not sure how excited they would have been.
“It’s like one of the last senior experiences and I didn’t get a prom experience last year so I just kind of want to have one.”
For the second consecutive year, Lyons Township High School will not have a prom. Instead LTHS will host a special event for seniors that school officials are calling Lyonspalooza which will take place on Sunday, May 16 at LTHS’s South Campus.
There will be two sessions the first from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and the second from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Attendance at each session will be limited to 450 students and students can sign up for only one session. Tickets will cost just $5 due to contributions from the Parent Teacher Council, LT Boosters, the teachers union, and the student council.
Lyonspalooza will include food trucks providing free food, activities and Bennett Field will be open to students.
In-person graduation for RB, LT
Both RBHS and LTHS are holding outdoor in-person graduations this year.
The RBHS graduation will be held at the Martin Kennelly Athletic Complex on May 28 at 6 p.m. Each graduate will be allotted two tickets. A virtual graduation event will be held at 8 p.m. the same night.
LTHS will host two graduation ceremonies on May 29 at Bennett Field. Graduates whose last names begin with the letter A through L will graduate at 10 a.m. with M through Z will graduating at 1 p.m.
If students decide not to attend graduation, they can pick up their diplomas at the South Campus Circle Drive on May 28 between noon and 3 p.m. or have them mailed.
