Friday was CVCA’s Junior-Senior Banquet, more commonly referred to as prom. We don’t dance at our prom because of the historical mistrust of dancing at the school, but we do treat it as a formal occasion and eat very well, there is entertainment of some sort, and the evening finishes with the showing of the Senior Video, which is mostly baby pictures of seniors coupled with their senior photos.
Prom was held at the Cuyahoga Falls Sheraton with a theme of “Masquerade.” The Sheraton has great views of some of the smaller falls and the rapids of the Cuyahoga River and is a very pretty setting. They have a large reception area where photos were taken, and they have a banquet room big enough to seat everyone. Generally, pictures and people-watching fill the first hour or so, and that was fun. Mer and I both like to critique the girls’ dresses, and they did very well this year. There were almost no eyebrow-raising dresses, either for bad look or for immodesty, and there were lots of very classy dresses. I think that CVCA having a dress code for prom helps the young ladies look super classy; the dress code helps them avoid the temptation of skimpy dresses, and so they end up looking very elegant.
After the promenade part of prom, we retired to the ballroom for supper. Supper was buffet-style, where you got your own food (as opposed to table service). The food was excellent, and the seniors had requested that dessert was to be CVCA-supplied chocolate chip cookies. Mer and I were both able to get two of those (there were spares at the end of the evening).
After supper, the entertainment of the evening started. The man was introduced as a comedian, and made a balloon-animal motorcycle for the teacher/emcee of the evening. I was not sure how well he was going to be received, but that was just his warm-up. He was a nationally-known ventriloquist, and he demonstrated his art with two different puppets. He was amazing – his lips really never moved, and he took time to work demonstrations into his early act so we would know how ventriloquism worked, To end his act, he called up four seniors and made them into life-sized puppets by tapping them on the shoulders to make them “talk.” He made the two guys have high voices and the two girls have low voices, and he was really funny. That was probably my personal favorite prom entertainment in the seven or so proms that I have gone to.
The senior video ended the evening, and people always get a kick out of seeing what the handsome young people looked like when they were small. It is a fine way to wrap up a formal evening. The evening does continue in an informal way at after-party, which is a party thrown by CVCA parents each year where there are games and food and really good prizes. It is an attempt to keep the evening positive, and after-party goes on into the wee hours.
Mer and I like to at least make an appearance at after-party, which this year was at the Tallmadge Recreation Center. The Center has basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, a track, and a large common area where the food was located. There were a couple of DJs who were playing music for the kids, including a few line dances and “YMCA.” There was a really good wandering magician who did card and coin tricks; I never did see how he did what he did, and I was trying to look in the opposite direction of any misdirections or big gestures. Mer and I ate some more food, and we took some more photos, and got a kick out of watching the students having a good time. We finally called it a night after a couple of hours, and we got home at about 2:00 am. I can’t tell you the last time we were out so late – that is a good sign of how much we enjoy this group of students (and the chaperons who were there as well – after-party brings out a fun crowd).