Ella Wehmeyer

For a long time, perhaps even years, seniors have anticipated this moment — the booming music, people dancing until their feet ache and exhilaration in the air. On May 18, Miami Palmetto Senior High hosted its annual senior prom at the Hilton Downtown Miami Hotel. This year, the theme was inspired by the French Quarter, a neighborhood considered to be the heart and soul of New Orleans, Louisiana. 

On prom night, many students and administrators came together to celebrate the upcoming graduation of the Class of 2024. Some students spent days and weeks preparing, whether picking out a dress or suit or campaigning for prom court. 

Senior Josie Woodfall showed special dedication to winning prom queen, even making an Instagram account for her campaign, @josie_for_promqueen. During prom week, Woodfall spent her lunchtime passing out KitKats and promoting her effort to become the Class of 2024 prom queen. 

“I thought running for prom queen would be really fun and exciting regardless of [whether] I won or not and a great way to end my high school experience with a bang,” Woodfall said. 

This year, student council president Clayton Detant and Woodfall won the prom court king and queen positions. 

“It was so exciting [to win prom queen], and [it] felt great to do justice to my younger self who always dreamed of something like this,” Woodfall said. “It felt really amazing to know that a ‘weird kid’ like me could win prom queen and a reminder [of] my belief that the most important trait to have is confidence and with that you can have great accomplishments.” 

While some students enthusiastically awaited prom, activities director Elizabeth Valero and Student Council put forth tremendous commitment and planning to ensure that prom would be an enjoyable experience for the seniors. 

Student council board members, such as Senior Class President Rebecca Panagakos, assisted Valero in organizing the event. 

“Mrs. Valero did most of the work because she’s the activities director. Props to her, she did a great job setting everything up, prom looked very nice. She made it look beautiful … If she needed the students to know something, I would send the message out,” Panagakos said. “I would post on the [MPSH Class of 2024] Instagram, I would spread the word, I would post on our senior class updates WhatsApp. Any updates that people needed to know –– I was there for that.” 

When picking the prom theme and title, Valero and the student council wished to add an exceptional touch, creating a theme beyond the typical French Quarter party. 

“From what I’ve seen, prom themes are usually an extravagant name. So [rather than just say] Louisiana, we wanted it to be a little more than that,” Panagakos said. 

To evoke senior class spirit, student council members came together to host a competition: whoever correctly guessed the name of the prom theme won a free ticket to the event. 

“[The competition] was [run by] me, Ruben, Valero, Clayton, and Sadhna. We were the ones who were doing the hints, the puzzles and the competition. We didn’t want to make it too easy. A lot of people were guessing French Quarter, but it was more than that. You needed to guess the full Fête in the French Quarter theme,” Panagakos said.

For prom attendee Amanda Vega, returning to prom brought a wave of nostalgia; Vega left MPSH at the beginning of her senior year, which felt unexpected to both herself and her friends. Wishing to reunite with her old friends for one last celebration, Vega came down from her new home in Lehigh Acres to attend MPSH’s prom. 

“[Coming to MPSH’s prom] was honestly so weird. I had totally forgotten about half the people I used to see every day. It was so surreal, and there was this feeling I had as if I had never left. I really didn’t even know how to act,” Vega said. “Getting to see my past classmates and catching up with people [was my favorite part of prom]. There were some people who I didn’t get the chance to speak to before I left and didn’t even know what had happened to me. It was nice being able to see everyone again.” 

Prom ignited a thrilling, joyful feeling for many seniors in suspense for their graduation. For various prom attendees, coming together to commemorate the final four years of high school created a rewarding and effusive energy.

“Everybody took a lot of time getting ready for it, and I thought everyone cleaned up very nicely. I love seeing all my beautiful people,” Panagakos said. 

Now that prom night has transpired, MPSH seniors await the final stretch: graduation on May 29.