Long Island high schools promote safe prom night events with themes and prizes

Prom season brings an explosion of fun: promposals, pictures, flowers and fittings. But it also rings in a scarier season: The 100 Deadliest Days, the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when driving accidents among teenagers spike, as do overdoses and underage drinking, especially around prom nights.

Some Long Island high schools have found ways to short circuit the perils of prom night without spoiling the fun. Island Trees and Oceanside high schools throw lavish post-prom bashes, where there is enough music, food and prizes totaling tens of thousands of dollars, to keep the party going almost until sunup.

“I’m excited for post-prom,” says Iben Angud, an Island Trees High School senior, who is headed to Baruch College in the fall to study finance and play basketball. “It’s a great opportunity to get together one last time. It shows what a tight-knit community we are. And of course there are the prizes to look forward to.”

It’s a great opportunity to get together one last time. It shows what a tight-knit community we are.

— Iben Angud, an Island Trees High School senior

After the traditional prom night ends at 11 p.m. on June 11 at Chateau La Mer in Lindenhurst, attendees will have an hour to get home, get into something more comfortable and head to the school where a small army of 40 to 50 parents will have been decorating the gym with a secret theme they have been planning for months.

A DJ will be setting up and a buffet breakfast will be laid out for their arrival. Prizes will be raffled off from midnight until the activity ends at 3 a.m.

And yes, the parents will stick around. But the seniors don’t mind.

“I think it’s perfect,” says Island Trees valedictorian Maximus Dyckman, 18, a senior heading to Florida State University  in the fall to study history. “Since the kids started driving around, we’ve kind of been neglecting our parents, so it’s nice to have a last chance to meet and spend time together before going to college. After all these years of going to your friends’ houses, it’s good to see them again.”

The post-prom breakfast at Island Trees High School is not new. In fact, the current senior class advisors, Melissa Cillo, who teaches U.S. history and government, and Courtney Petratos, who teaches biology, attended the post-prom breakfast when they graduated from Island Trees in 2001.

“There was no theme for decorating, but there was a DJ and we danced, and everybody went,” Cillo says. “It was very fun.”

Petratos adds, “Now the parents get equally excited, maybe more so because they have planned this theme and they get to surprise the students with it.” They expect most of the approximately 175 graduating seniors to attend both prom and post-prom.

Although the decorations and prizes have gotten more elaborate over the years – including TVs, microwaves and fridges for dorm rooms –Cillo and Petratos say the spirit is the same.

"Post-prom fundraising is done entirely by the parents of the seniors. It changes from year to year, but they usually sell lawn signs that say Home of the Bulldogs or Island Trees grad. They also sell Island Trees spirit wear and lanyards, as well as selling wreaths for the holidays," says assistant principal William Gibbons.

Post-prom traditions 

Gibbons says it is not clear when the tradition started, but said, “It’s been at least three decades. A former principal told me it existed in 1992 and possibly longer.”

And while Gibbons didn’t graduate from Island Trees, he too has fond memories of a post-prom school event at his alma mater, Oceanside High School, where Dawn Delirium has been a much-anticipated post-prom event since 1991.

At Oceanside High School, more than 300 of the 400-plus graduating class are expected to go to prom, many with outside dates. The post-prom will take place at The Bayview on the Nautical Mile in Freeport.

It is an ambitious undertaking that requires fundraising from students and parents alike, says Dawn Delirium Committee co-chair Tara Brasch. It’s not her first rodeo; Brasch has been on the committee since her now-senior daughter was in kindergarten. Another Brasch child attended Dawn Delirium as a senior four years ago. Her experience comes in handy when it comes to raising the $25,000 it takes to put on the event, plus the additional fundraising for the cash prizes. Graduate lawn sign sales and a senior fashion show in February are major sources of funding.

“Post-prom is alcohol-free and drug-free,” she says, “We set up for each graduate and their date, and it is free of charge. Even if you don’t go to prom, you can come, but we do require everyone to attend a mandatory prom meeting with their parents."

“There is a DJ, food and giveaways with door and raffle prizes. Cash prizes can be up to $4,999 in value. We sell sponsor-a-senior tickets for $5 and every dollar of that goes to cash prizes.” One year there was over $40,000 in cash given away.

There is a catch.

“The cash prizes are called out at the end of the night,” Brasch says. “You have to be present to win. If you leave, it’s sad, but we move on and give the prize to someone else.” The possibility of winning keeps the students there until the party’s end at 4 a.m.

Brasch’s co-chair, Oceanside school board Trustee and parent Laura Lisi says all the work is worth it for one particular reason.

“I love that the kids are safe,” she says. “We know where they are.”