The following first-hand documentation of the Model High School 1987 Junior/Senior Prom is a slightly modified text originally written by JLK on April 18 and 19, 1987. The manuscript was originally used for a five-part series entitled "The Prom (Band) Adventures" that were originally published in the "Backup Pages" of The Band Adventures 1987! from April 20-24, 1987 (For those who may not recall, "The Band Adventures" were a daily series of stories written by JLK and distributed to the members of the Model High School Band. Any attempts to further describe this series will have to be found elsewhere). The audience for the series was the members of the Model High School Band who may not have attended any or all of the events of the evening, and so the original draft for the series was skewed towards this particular audience. For this reprinting, we have edited out most of the references that would pertain to band members as well as anyone who was NOT in the Senior Class. The one thing that we did not edit was any of the grammatical errors or just plain bad phrasing as originally written by JLK over 20 years ago; we wanted to retain the spirit of youthfulness and naivety that the original series presented (No alcohol at the Prom? Yeah, RIGHT) as well as the feel of something that was written after being awake for over 30 hours.

The Prom theme was: "2,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Reportedly, the Juniors worked like crazy all night Friday and most of Saturday, hurredly throwing the whole party together in the gym. They even hired elementary students to cut out fish for them.

Saturday night was the banquet. All the Juniors were dressed up very nicely, while the Seniors were dressed ... well, about two-thirds were dressed somewhat like Juniors. To put it simply, the Junior guys came in with dress shoes. The Senior guys did not. By 6:00 p.m. everyone was in place at the Keene Johnson Building. Ellen Benzing, Junior Class President, stood at the front to give the opening speech when the group of Seniors consisting of Jonathan Leung, Guy Andrews, Jay Bisping, Randy Pigue walked in, wearing no shirts, a tie, a jacket, and a bathtowel wrapped around the waist. They sat like this throughout most of the whole banquet. Other interesting costumings were Danny Baechtold and Seth Elliot, who dressed as monks. After Ellen's speech, Amanda Batts gave the prayer, and the food came out. First the salad with spoon bread. After that came the main course: Fried shrimp, baked potato, and broccoli. The shrimp was pretty bad; like Frisch's. Everything else was OK. Then came the desert, Strawberry Shortcake, and then Dr. Bonar stepped up to give a speech. He said how he had asked the fifth grade teachers about some of the Seniors. They said how they remembered when Jon Allen loved Lori-Lynn Hurley, when Randy Pigue wrote a poem, when Jimmy Kwak hit Mrs. Higgenbotham on the back of the head with a lunchbox, when Mark Calitri always broke his nose, when Jimmy Kwak wrote a newspaper, when Dan Shuntich was the big brain, and when Dr. Bonar embarrased those Seniors at banquet.

Then came the reading of the wills. Many of them were hard to understand if you didn't know the people they were talking about. But all the Juniors got shot down and burned, so to say. Most of them were directed towards Ellen Benzing, Mary Tom Tudor, and Mila Pope. Here's a random sampling:

Will Ridgeley willed Rick Culross a haircut (nobody laughed)
Senior Class willed Shay Quillen some biceps
Senior Class willed Josh Meckler a social life and the ability to play with his brain (although the original version read "to masturbate his brain")
Senior Class willed Chris Staples a hobby other than running
Senior Class willed the Juniors a Prom theme that everyone agreed on instead of just Amanda Batts.
Senior Class willed the Juniors Terry Vish, so they could rag on her
Senior Class willed Lisa Hughes a room in the hospital with Lee Ann Anderson.
Senior Class willed Tamra Howe the Food-A-Matic card
Eydie and Jenny willed the junior geeks in Advanced Math real lives and real bodies, especially Shay Quillen.

Then came the "Ten Years From Now ..."
... we will see Jimmy still asking Peggy for a date
... we will see Peggy still turning him down
... Ellen Forderhaise opening up a Burger King
... Keith Hartman doing trampoline stunts for the circus

Finally came the "Remember Whens ..."
... when William Hill wanted to be a scientist?
... when Joe Ballew was single?
... when Jonathan Leung didn't go to Model?
... when Denise Perry wore a bandana to school?
... when everyone called Seth "Peter"?

When banquet was over at around 7:30, the people headed on out, to change to tuxes and dressed for the big main event ... PROM!!!! It started at 9:00 p.m., but I, the writer, came in at 10:00, so what follows next was heard mostly from others (and probably wrong).

At 9:00 p.m., the band started. It was a slow start, but it soon picked up, and really began rocking. The good thing about this band over last year's was that they did all cover versions. Last year's band did a lot of original songs, which were hard to dance to. This year's band was also very good! They did a wide variety of songs, from "Big Time" to "Walk This Way" to "Twist and Shout" to "Lean On Me" to "Fight For Your Right" (which was also the last song).

The Prom started getting better at 10:00 p.m., which was when most everyone else showed up. Then people sat around, and they, um ... OK, we'll get to the point. There was no alcohol there! It would have been almost impossible to get wasted there, because Bruce Bonar, Jackie Vance, Sybil Martin, Allan Stephens, Marilyn Hasty, Phyliss Shuttleworth, and almost every other teacher in this universe were hanging around out there. Bert Thomas, however, managed to get away with it.

How about the decorations? The entranceway was a huge tunnel, with fourth and fifth grade created fish hanging. There was a small pool at the front and cave with a treasure chest in the middle. Entering the Prom, the "ceiling" was very low, with green lights above it and fans all around it, blowing, creating the impression you were about twenty feet below water (Mr. Stephens thought of that). Right by the door was a four-legged octopus in a cave; there were streamers from the ceiling and hanging to the floor (what those were for I have no idea), a huge "JAWS" right next to the refreshment stand, and a huge sinking Titantic centerpiece on the middle of the floor. There were lots of little kids running around in jams and Josh Meckler shirts, who were the servers. And on every table was a small bowl containing at least two goldfish (there were fifteen), and it is a known fact that Ranjan Mohanty swallowed one.

Back to the Prom. Sometime, around 10:30, suddenly, all these seventh graders just walked in, stood around a few minutes, and then left. No one really knows why they were there. Were they servers? Were they curious? Were they looking for Jimmy because he needed a date? The world may never know.

Sometime after 10:30 came the crowning of the Prom Queen. The candidates were: Juniors Amy Cotton, Bertha Ballew, Monica Harris, and Mila Pope; and Seniors Karen Adams, Candice McEnroe, Jenny Nelson, and Eydie Walters. Tom Martin read off the candidates, with the microphone being set too low or Tom not speaking up. Finally, after everyone was introduced, the winners were announced:

2nd Runner Up - Amy Cotton!
1st Runner Up - Candice McEnroe!
PROM QUEEN - Eydie Walters!!!

The band then came back on, did another set, and then took a break. Around 11:00, after the break, Decembrist Uprise took the stage!!! This was probably the highlight of the evening. For those of you who don't know, Decembrist Uprise consists of Stephen Jett (bass guitar and lead vocals), Chad Ward (lead guitar), Otto Helmuth (drums), and William Hill (keyboards, but he didn't play). Stephen didn't sing lead on this one song; instead James Abner came up!!! They did James' favorite "KKK Took My Baby Away". Four girls (Sarah Warner, Kristi Wooten, Kara Tribble and Denise Perry) sat under the drums, being the groupies and clapping along. The group did a good job, even though it was only one song.

Immediately after that song, Sarah came up and told about the now traditional removing of the garters. All the senior girls and their dates were to come forward, and their date would reach under the dress and remove and keep the garter, "using hands and maybe teeth - don't get too gross". On the count of three, everyone did so - not as dramatic or wild as last years' (which was the first time).

The party then began winding down. People started to fade out at around 11:45. The band played the last song, "Fight For Your Right", and then everyone left. Everyone went somewhere to change, and then headed over to Mila Pope's house for the after-prom Breakfast.

The breakfast began somewhat immediately after the Prom. Let's just say that when I, the writer, arrived at 1:00 p.m., it was already somewhat under way. People were just crowding in the living room, eating the food.

What food was there? There were lots of sausage balls, fruit, bread, pastries, butter, strawberries, and lots of cheeseballs and crackers lying about. To drink there was a carbonated orange juice, Pepsi, Sprite, etc. No alcohol? Hey, there were parents here? No coffee? Good question. Andy Teague walked around looking for some.

People were in the living room, kitchen, front entrance hall, outside porch, and the "sunroom". In the living room there were a lot of oriental artifacts. A book of poetry laid out, with an oriental picture in it, with the open poem starting with "Plucking lilies. . . .".

The party really started rolling at around 1:30 p.m., which was when most people decided to show up. The food started going, and Mila and her sister ran around gathering plates and cups. A group consisting mostly of James Abner, Seth Elliot, Aaron Francis, and some other girls hung around in the "sunroom". Seth started going slightly bizarre at about the time. Meanwhile, Andy T had succeeded in his search for coffee, which he found in the kitchen. However, at that moment, Mila walked backwards into him, getting coffee all over her back! She said she wasn't that mad, and even brought him a new cup. People really began splitting at around 2:15 to 2:30.

PHOTO CREDITS (numbered starting from top): 1-5 = Exemplar Staff; 6,7,10 = JLK; 8,9 = Jill Tracy Darbyshire