For her first Prom as principal, Principal Madelyn Ball had one key task: keeping drugs and alcohol out of the class of 2012’s Prom.

To accomplish this task, the administration decided to take new precautions for the class of 2012. According for Ball, seniors who wanted to attend Prom were required to complete the second portion of AlcoholEdu and sign a Prom contract, agreeing to not bring or partake in drugs or alcohol. Without doing so, students could not purchase Prom tickets.

At Prom, each attendee was required to have his or her bags searched, and two teacher chaperones supervised each bus that took the students to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

“That’s kind of a typical thing to do. We just want to check the bags to make sure that we don’t start the evening with drugs or alcohol. That way it makes it safe for everybody, everybody can have a good time,” Ball said in an interview before Prom.

In an interview the Monday after Prom, Ball said that the class of 2012’s behavior was “phenomenal. I have been doing Proms for twenty-some years and it was without a doubt the smoothest running, no hitches event. I’ll have to say this, this is the first Prom I’ve been to where there hasn’t been an issue of some sort.”

Social studies teacher and Prom chaperone Tony Del Puppo agreed with Ball’s assessment of the class of 2012’s actions. “They were very well behaved, though their dancing techniques left something to be desired,” Del Puppo said.

According to Ball, the wait staff at the National Aquarium also appreciated the class of 2012’s behavior.

“They were very complimentary. They had never seen a group that well behaved. They were just so impressed,” Ball said.

After Prom occurred, Ball believed that the new changes and protocol encouraged good behavior. “Our expectations were absolutely no drugs no alcohol. It was our responsibility to make sure those expectations were met. For the little bit of inconvenience in the beginning, I think it paid off just fine,” Ball said.

The process of checking bags did not bother seniors Colin Brooks and Elaine Jansing-Kaestner.

“To me, it really didn’t matter. They checked our pants and stuff but that was it,” Brooks said.

“The security slowed everything up, but it allowed everyone to be able to catch their buses,” Jansing-Kaestner said.

However, the heightened security bothered senior Becca Falter. “They put my bra on the table [when searching my bag], that was really inappropriate,” Falter said.

Despite the increased security and precautions, Ball said that the administration will continue with this same format for the class of 2013’s Prom.

“It worked beautifully. So we’ll just continue like this. I think it was a good year to make a change with a new, grouchy, old principal. In fact, when I speak to classes next year, I’m going to tell them that we have pretty high expectations, because not one problem occurred at Prom. Not one,” Ball said.

To view and purchase photos from this year’s Prom, check out The Patriot’s Smugmug.

Maggie Cassidy is the Print Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.