Perry’s prom set to return on April 27, with free tickets for students

Perry High School juniors and seniors have the opportunity to go to prom for free this year, thanks to an anonymous donation.

“You work hard all year long for fundraising and always at the end, you’re trying to figure out how to make the event the most impactful for as many students as possible,” Emily Leslie said of the junior class prom committee. “When this (donation) came through, it was such a blessing to be able to lift that financial responsibility off the students and really just give them an amazing event.”

Students still need to sign up for the free tickets, which will be available through April 5 during lunch periods. Out-of-town guests will need to be registered with the high school office. Tickets cost $35 in 2022, though they are free this year and include a prom T-shirt, meal, dance, after-prom activities and prizes.

“I think it’s really exciting that we’re able to offer free admission into prom this year, it will open up the doors for a lot of students who may have not been able to and now have the option to (attend),” said Amy Diaz, the junior class president and member of the prom committee.

The committee, made up of junior class parents and students, helped organize this year’s walk-in, dance and after-prom.

The walk-in will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 in the Perry Performing Arts Center. Doors open to the public at 3 p.m. The students will then head to the Hotel Pattee, where a pasta bar will be served and desserts will be provided by Tina Lutterman.

The dance will be held at La Poste and Diaz said it will include a selfie station and other photo opportunities along with snacks and music.

After-prom will be held at Spare Time in West Des Moines. Quin Mahler-Moreno, junior class vice-president, said after-prom activities will include bowling, arcade games, laser tag and escape rooms along with food. The students will then head back to the high school for prizes.

This year’s prom theme is Starry Night and Maher-Moreno is looking forward to seeing how all of the prom committee’s work comes together.

“I’m very excited to not only see how much fun I have but see how much fun and how my peers enjoy it,” she said.

Diaz is especially looking forward to the dance and after-prom activities.

“(I’m) excited to see the pictures and see everyone having fun,” she added.

Leslie said the committee started fundraising for this year’s prom over the summer. The students and parents worked softball and baseball concessions, collected cans, held a homecoming grill out and dunk tank, hosted bake sales and a Facebook auction and painted the “P” on business sidewalks and home driveways.

Diaz enjoyed the dunk tank at the Hispanics United for Perry’s Latino Festival in August while Mahler-Moreno’s favorite was the homecoming grill out and dunk tank.

They both enjoyed working together with their fellow classmates and parents to help raise funds for this year’s prom.

“Since we had a smaller group this year, we had a really tight-knit group,” Mahler-Moreno said.

“We pushed through and we were always working really hard,” Diaz added. “It was really good that we were able to bring it all together and it’s just a new bond that we have with the entire group.”

Leslie said the junior students took charge and led the monthly planning meetings. Mahler-Moreno said they also wanted to get the student body involved so they had a T-shirt design contest for the students to submit ideas for this year’s prom T-shirts. The committee then voted for the winning design.

The committee also received a number of donations from local businesses. Pizza Hut donated a portion of their sales, Tin Pig donated cans for the class to turn into the redemption center and others donated items for the Facebook auction.

“We appreciate the donations so much because we wouldn’t have been able to make this prom happen without the support of the community,” Mahler-Moreno said.

That includes the anonymous donation to cover the cost of the prom tickets.

Mahler-Moreno encourages the junior and seniors to sign up for the free prom tickets during their lunch period.

“It’s going to be fun and the tickets are going to be free this year so we should definitely take advantage of that,” she said.

"We’re encouraging (students) to come to this event and make memories," Leslie added. "That's what it’s all about, just creating a fun environment for our students and creating those lifelong memories."

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Perry’s prom set to return on April 27, with free tickets for students