Everyone knows you only have one senior prom. At Kelly Walsh High School the prom is for Juniors and Seniors only, but seeing Freshman and Sophomores at prom is becoming more and more of an occurrence. Most upperclassmen believe that underclassmen shouldn’t be allowed to attend prom. But the question still remains, should underclassmen be able to attend prom?

A highlight of prom compared to other dances is that there are less people, many people in attendance appreciate the smaller group of people compared to the fall dance; Coed Ball. But because of the flexibility of ticket sales, more and more freshmen and sophomores come.

Some believe the amount of people in attendance is just getting too large. Sophomore Parker Bartlett agrees saying, “I think it’s a problem how many people are at prom, it should be reserved just for older grades.”

How are underclassmen getting tickets? Many schools only allow underclassmen to go to prom if invited by a senior or junior. At Kelly Walsh, they allow juniors and seniors to buy two tickets each.  In years past, this way of selling tickets had turned into chaos. Upperclassmen buying tickets for freshman and sophmores without the intent of going with that person as a date is a plan that lots of underclassmen rely on.

“I heard many people saying that that was their plan,” junior Emma Baker said. This way of getting tickets is becoming a regular plan for underclassmen, and many students believe that that is the reason there is a large rate of freshman and sophomores at prom.

A popular argument for high school students is that there are many underclassmen who are in a relationship with upperclassmen, and they should be able to go to prom as a couple.

Junior Giselle Moreno agrees with this point, Moreno thinks that you should be able to go with whoever you want, no matter the grade. “Although it can be annoying to have lots of underclassmen at prom I think it’s unfair to not allow upperclassmen to go with whomever they’d like including the underclassmen.” said Moreno.

There are over 2,000 students at Kelly Walsh. So there won’t be a solution that every student is pleased with. One possible solution Kelly Walsh could consider is just allow upperclassmen to buy one ticket. Then at the dance, students could have to show their student ID to get in, proving they are upperclassmen.

This would not only honor the fact that prom is just a senior/junior dance but also limit the attendance.

Bartlett agrees with this option, saying “People should only get one ticket”.

Though this solution would split up couples, it would be a known rule that overall, could make prom a more private event and less chaotic.