JCC Restructures Prom Court

This May 14th, at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, UHS will host their first Prom in over two years, with the theme “A Starry Night.” While students will enjoy traditional Prom festivities, like dinner, music and dancing, this year will bring changes to Prom Royalty Selections, which was formerly separated into two categories, Prom King and Queen.

Students will be allowed to run individually or with a partner as “Royal Sweethearts,” giving individuals and couples equal opportunity to run for Prom Royalty.

The Junior Class Cabinet sponsor, Mr. Leander Houston-Enjady, is in charge of planning this year’s Prom. “These past few years have been hard on all of us. We wanted to make sure that when we planned out Prom for this year, we tried to make it as inclusive as possible. Part of that includes making changes to our Prom Royalty system; including the name to show our students that anyone can run and be elected as Prom Royalty. We’re also allowing candidates to signify how they would like to be announced so that we can honor everyone’s pronouns and gender identities,” said Houston-Enjady.

Sophomore Landon Lewis, who knows several students running for Prom Court, is excited for the inclusivity that Prom Royalty will bring. “I believe that this shows the growth in our community as time moves forward in our school that we can acknowledge the people who are non-binary or non gender conforming and that we should accept and appreciate them for who they are,” said Lewis.