After two years without many festivities, senior Cameron Frank is looking forward to attending this year’s upcoming junior/senior prom.

“I think it’s actually really cool because it’s another event that a lot of people didn’t get to experience and we were fortunate enough to have this opportunity to enjoy a prom with friends,” ASB President Cameron Frank said.

The first prom held in over two years will be on May 20 at the Tarzana Community & Cultural Center, lasting from 5 to 10 pm. Seniors and juniors are able to attend with a ticket, as well as faculty and students from other schools that were personally invited by a Daniel Pearl Magnet High School student. The student-chosen theme is “Putting On The Ritz,” inspired by 1920s attire and “The Great Gatsby.”

“Personally, I think it’s going to be pretty fun because not only do we get to interact with the seniors and such, we kind of get to know them before they leave,” junior Jenica Felicitas said.

Although there have been combined proms in the past, this year’s planning struggles made it a difficult comeback. After a venue was found, the school district made a requirement of using only outdoor venues to implement COVID precautions. The prom committee had to change venues multiple times due to issues such as COVID closures and restrictions.

“There’s been multiple struggles, multiple denials of plan progression to go into place,” Frank said. “But just the time we are in right now has definitely impacted us.”

Due to the lack of fundraising during the pandemic, inviting seniors and juniors to prom was necessary to gain enough funds to pay for all the planning costs. About 75 tickets were sold, each costing $120. Senior class sponsor James Morrison has helped with fundraising all school year to make prom as memorable as possible for the students.

“Everyone in the (prom) committee was in charge of their own thing,” junior Vice President Angela Ledesma said. “The process in between us was smooth, so I feel like everything was good from what we had and what we could do.”

Morrison has been planning with the ASB members, the incoming ASB officers and a few seniors on the prom committee since the beginning of the school year. Everything from the food to the pricing, to the attractions, was all carefully planned by students during weekly meetings since September.

“I hope it’s a special thing because we’ve had two years of students essentially being robbed of something that’s very important and special for a high school student,” Morrison said. “So, I want it to be something special for them.”