Written by Paulo Frank
For math teacher Cristina Florea, prom wasn’t just a night of carefree dancing, as she was tasked with the responsibility of planning the prom. “I was senior class president at Saratoga,” Florea said. “The president plans the prom along with the rest of the student government.”
Though many would shy away from taking on such an important job as planning one’s senior prom, Florea new early on that she wanted to be involved. “One of the top reasons that I wanted to be senior class president was to work on prom,” Florea said. “It was my first big event that I had to plan, but I wasn’t nervous. I was excited.”
For Florea, the hardest part of planning prom was trying to find a way to make everybody happy. “It was hard to please everyone,” Florea said. “Some people wanted different themes, some wanted formal some wanted semi-formal. Finding out what everyone wanted and coming to a middle ground was the hardest part.”
In order to form a more complete picture of the student body’s opinion, Florea and the others on the prom committee came up with a useful idea. “We sent out surveys to see what people’s ideas of prom would look like,” Florea said. “Even if the theme wasn’t specific to them, we wanted to make sure their voices were heard in the different activities offered. We wanted to make their prom memorable.”
Fortunately for Florea, the prom ran smoothly and school andrestaurant staff helped solve problems during the actual event so that she could focus on enjoying her event. “It was really nice because the staff that was there helped take care of the event,” Florea said. “After all of the hard work we did prior to prom, we were able to enjoy the actual event because the generous staff at the event helped take care of everything the night of the prom.”
Florea’s experience with planning prom helped her discover a lifelong passion: event planning. “It was a hobby on the side while in college,” Florea said. “After college I got certified to be a wedding and event planner, and I’ve opened my own business on the side.”
