On April 25, Lakewood High School juniors and seniors experienced their 2025-26 prom night at the University of Southern Florida, Saint Petersburg campus’ ballroom.
This year’s theme was: Fairytales Enchanted.
Guests were allowed to dress up in their own creative and beautiful way.
Being able to experience Lakewood High School’s prom was such a privilege, especially since I was welcomed by friends and the administrators who were also attending the prom.
From the first step into USF’s campus, I immediately felt safe knowing that everyone who entered the building was checked for any weapons before entering the ballroom.
While being in the hall that led to the prom’s entrance, I was met with the enchanted and nature-like decorations surrounding me.
Walking in, the ballroom was very beautiful and well-decorated. The seating and arrangements had a green, gold, and black color scheme.
Everyone was dressed well and a lot of the guests matched the dress theme.
As for the catering, we had a selection of honey hot and buffalo wings, chicken pasta, mac and cheese, sliders, and a salad bar.
For desserts, we had the choice of chocolate chip cookies, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, and brownies.
“I enjoyed this year’s food selections. It was much better than last year’s, much more of a variety,” said senior Luca Saraceno.
I found myself creeping away to the dessert table plenty of times, specifically for the crispy brownies that were displayed.
As for the music, it was fifty-fifty. There were plenty of times when the crowd would peek over to the DJ in confusion and annoyance.
“I thought the DJ was good when it came to his song choices and keeping a good vibe, but he kind of changed the songs too quickly,” said senior Jaelyn Hicks.
I feel like the DJ was trying too hard to please everyone with their different music genres and interests, which quickly overwhelmed him.
As long as there were classics that were played that night; which there were, I had no problem vibing to a song that I did not know or like as much.
Aside from the music’s ups and downs, as the night went on, more people seemed to get comfortable with dancing on the dance floor, rather than standing around with their friends.
It was nice to see all of my classmates having fun outside of school without having to worry about assignments, being too loud, or having a dress code.
It was just all of us upperclassmen enjoying one of our last high school events before parting ways.
Overall, the prom itself personally seemed like a success. I enjoyed myself and it seemed like everyone else around me enjoyed it as well.
