West Greene High School will be hosting a “Spring Fling Adult Prom” for adults who never got to go to prom or would like to go again. The event, which will be held on Saturday, March 25, is being held to raise money for the Peer Mentor Program, which is run by the West Greene High School.
According to Melissa Ullom, an English teacher and Peer Mentoring Program co-sponsor at West Greene High School, the Peer Mentor Program is meant to raise students up beyond the classroom.
“What the Peer Mentor Program is, is a group of high school students mentoring middle school students to create future leaders. We all know how hard of a time middle school can be and the changes that different individuals go through,” Ullom said. “We want to teach them to be confident in themselves and to be good leaders.”
According to Ullon, the sponsors of the program applied for a grant and received it from the Staunton Foundation in Pittsburgh. The money received in that grant gave the program enough to temporarily sustain it, but not enough to make it last over an extended period of time. Some of the money from that grant has now gone into planning fundraisers, such as the Adult Prom, to further cement their status as a program.
The Peer Mentor Program and West Greene School District itself has never conducted a fundraiser like the Adult Prom before. It’s an entirely new idea that hasn’t even been explored as a fundraising solution anywhere else in Greene County.
With 100 people already RSVP’d for the event, the fundraiser has already reached half its goal of 200 attendees. The maximum number of attendees is capped at 200. The sponsors have already seen a large range of age in those planning to attend.
“We have people in their twenties who have just recently graduated high school and want to go again, or people who never had the opportunity, didn’t have the experience they had hoped for, or just want to have a fun night out,” said Ullom. “So far the oldest couple we have signed up is in their seventies.”
Doors for the event open at 5:30 p.m. and tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets are $40 per person or $70 per couple. The event includes dinner courtesy of Texas Roadhouse, live entertainment by The Virtuals and decorations courtesy of Magic Moments.
“We really want this event to become a yearly fundraiser that we can expand and improve each time we do it,” said Ullom. “We’re constantly trying to come up with fundraising to help continue our Peer Mentoring Program and this one looks like its going to be a really successful.”
There is still time to RSVP for the event before Saturday. For more information, or to RSVP, call West Greene School District at 724-499-5191 or text 681-222-7637.