We want to host prom this year at the Grand Ballroom at the University of Maryland. The room is 8750 sq feet, about twice the size of the Hilton where this past prom was held, and people who have been there say it's really pretty.
Here's a picture:
Unfortunately, being at Maryland it's also about 45 minutes to drive there and the main route takes a lot of beltway driving. While alot of students were unhappy about prom being so close last year since lots of people get limos, the parents were happy about it because they felt it was more safe, and this year they voted against having prom in Frederick or DC because they're uneasy about students driving on the beltway.
According to Mrs. Working, the only way to possibly solve this problem would be for us to provide charter buses for a small fee that will pick students up from the school and take them to and from prom. This way, students have an alternative to driving. From our talk with Mrs. Working, it seems that you're basically going to be banned from driving there on your own car. I don't really see how anyone can stop you if you want to drive there, but it's going to be highly discouraged and the buses are going to be highly encouraged. I contacted the reservations office and they said there was a paid parking lot next to the building and then one 5-10 minutes away that's free on weekends. You can definitely still rent your own limos or buses if you want to.
We feel that having prom here is absolutely worth it. For those of you who had complaints about the size of this past year's prom, it has a lot of space (accomodates up to 950 people) and it's also very nice.
Since the parents have a problem with having prom that far away from the school, we have to appeal to them still. However, we wanted your input. If you're going to be a senior or junior at QO next year, please take the poll below and let us know what you think!
We really appreciate your input! If you have any other comments, please contact me (Nora Chan). We had to disable comments on here but you can message me on facebook or e-mail at qohsclassof2009@yahoo.com.
P.S. If you support our point of view and your parents are involved with booster club and PTSA, we wouldn't mind if you would do a little dinner-table lobbying for us. ;-)
