Norris School District

A new twist on an old favorite – Post Prom to be held at Norris High School this year

            A new post-prom experience sponsored by the junior and senior class parents will be offered for students this year at Norris High School.  The event will be hosted on site here at Norris High School after the prom dance at East Campus and will feature games, an inflatable obstacle course and bungee run, lots of food for the attendees, great prizes including a LCD flat screen TV, DVD player, home stereo system and dozens of gift certificates from Lincoln and surrounding Norris area merchants, and a performance in the auditorium from renowned hypnotist/comic Don Friedman.  The event is sponsored by the Norris Junior Class parents and will begin at 1:00 A.M. and end at approximately 5:00 A.M. 

            We are hoping to fund this event by donations from Norris parents, businesses in our communities and Lincoln so please consider making a contribution, i.e. $10, $20 or whatever you feel comfortable giving - even a prize or gift certificate!  Feel free to pass the word to businesses that you have contact with also (retail stores, eating establishments, doctors/dentists offices, etc.).  Your help will allow us to do this event without student fund-raising. 

This year’s post prom event puts a new spin on a long-standing tradition.  The Norris community has had a tradition since 1987 of offering students who attend prom a safe and drug-free alternative to post-prom celebrating.  Previously, a Kansas City trip to Worlds of Fun was a full-day event after prom.  The trip necessitated that students return to Norris by 1 a.m., ride to Madsen’s in Lincoln to bowl and play pool for about four hours, then board a bus and ride for another four hours to Kansas City.  The students stopped for breakfast at a HyVee on the way and then spent five hours at Worlds of Fun before re-boarding the bus for the long haul home.  Students were back at Norris High School between 6:30 and 7:00 Sunday night, with school and homework facing them for Monday.

            The marathon trip proved to be popular for some classes although recent numbers have dwindled to only a third of what they were in the trip’s heyday. In 1987, 164 students attended, while in the last two years only 56 and 51 students have participated.  Ironically, while enrollment and class sizes continue to grow at Norris, the post prom participation has continued to fall. The Norris parents realized it was time for a change!  The dwindling numbers for the Kansas City trip have been attributed to several factors:

            *The weather in April in Nebraska and Missouri has been historically cold and often rainy.  The average temp in April is only 51 degrees with 2/3 of the days in the month cloudy and a monthly rainfall of 3”.  Obviously a trip to Worlds Of Fun is not quite so appealing when it is cold and rainy!

            *The trip cost $55 per student was prohibitively expensive for some students who had already spent “big bucks” on the actual prom event.  This year’s post prom event promises to be far less less expensive for kids, with a ticket price being a small fraction of the Kansas City cost.

            *Parents felt that their students were exhausted upon their return and many students reported that the day was just too long.  Students struggled to focus academically the following Monday in school since they had been up for 32 to 36 hours straight.  A number of students each year who participated in post prom simply called in sick the following day of school so they could sleep.

            For further information about Post Prom 2006 and how you can get involved, please contact any of the post-prom committee members:

            Steve and Erika Essink @ 423-5295

            Deb Kuhn @ 791-2141

            Kevin & Susan Patt @ 791-0134

            Shelley Forney @ 421-7456

            Monte & Sherri Zysset@ 421-7114

Prom is April 29, 2006 (which will be here before we know it) so PLEASE consider helping us make this a great event for our kids!!  For those of you who have already sent a donation or called to offer your help – THANK YOU!!!!