Senior Prom season is here and students, to differing degrees, are ready for the quintessential event.
Williston’s senior class prom is on May 17, Many students are scrambling to find dresses and suits, not to mention dates. Many have had their dates planned for months, while others have had unexpected break ups in the lead up to the big night.
Ruthie Butler is a senior boarding student at Williston. Ruthie has a list of preparations to be ready for the big day, all of which she’s checked off.
“I’ve gotten my dress! and I’m going to get my hair and nails done and I’ve gotten jewelry and I’ve talked to all my friends about prom,” she said.
Ruthie plans to take her boyfriend to prom this year.
“I’m so excited because I can’t wait to be with all of my friends all dressed up and for my boyfriend to see his friends again and to dress up with him and to dance and be around my fav people,” she said.
Aiyana Karanja, a senior boarding student from New York City, is very excited about her dress.
“I had to get my dress custom made by an alumni,” she said. “So yeah, that definitely took some time, but obviously I have it now and I’m very happy.”
Esther Glazer, a 2025 alum who now studies fashion design at Parsons School of Design in New York City, made Aiyana’s dress.
Aiyana is going with her good friend Zh’Ky Johnson-Tuzo, though they are not a couple.
“I feel like it should be more popular to go with friends,” Aiyanna said.
Aiyana is set with her date and, like Ruthie, not worried about the next few weeks.
“I understand last year people were scrambling for dates like random people they have never talked to in their lives, she said. “But me, personally, I don’t want to look back on my prom pictures and be like, ‘yeah, I have to go with this guy, don’t give a darn about or this person that I never talked to in my life.’ So that’s why I was like, ‘I’m going to go with a friend. So that’s really how it came about. Like it came about with a love for my friend.”
Aiyana is ecstatic for her senior prom, especially for the fashion.
“I’m so excited for the girls, like to see like what everyone puts on,” she said. I’m so excited even to see some of the under classmen because I know some of them were fighting to go to prom.”
Mia Townshend is a senior boarding student from Wakefield, Mass. She has previously been to prom, but is excited to go as a senior with all her friends one last time.
“I’m most excited about the fact that it’s my prom this year so my family can come up and take pictures with me and my friends and my date and I can really experience what it’s like to be at my own prom, which for me is like the epitome of senior year,” she said.
Mia is taking her boyfriend, Declan Grenache, a fellow Williston senior to prom. She said he “just needs to get his tie.”
Nick Guay, a senior from Westfield, Mass., is stuck between bowtie and tie, but otherwise ready to enjoy his last few moments with his senior class.
“I’m excited for prom because I get to spend quality time with my friends before everyone goes off to college and I’m excited for the food and the dancing,” he said.
