Typical school events have been few and far between this year for all our students due to Covid-19. Prom was no exception to the plethora of school traditions that had to be changed to comply with restrictions in place. In a typical year, Westland’s prom is held at Saint Mary’s Cultural Center in Livonia, but this site was not large enough to accommodate our event with social distancing.

Instead, the decision was made to have this typically off-site event right at the school building itself, and a prom committee of students was formed to reimagine the event. This group came up with the theme, chose a caterer, and decided on dessert options. There was one final sticking point that had everyone perplexed – what do you do at prom when dancing isn’t an option? Thanks to a student’s creativity, it was decided that prom would be a murder mystery party. All in attendance would participate, and thus, the theme of the Roaring 20s morphed into A Night of Secrets.

The evening of May 27th came, and after many hours of decorating and planning the event was a success. The gym was transformed into a banquet hall with dinner catered by a local, Italian restaurant. There was a photo booth outside for the kids to make memories with their friends and bring home printed photos at the end of the night. There was a chocolate fountain that many enjoyed as well as cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. After dinner, our very fancy guests had fun with the murder mystery portion and some of our thespian students brought the evening to life with their portrayals of the murders and other characters. It finished with a special surprise for the students with some open-air dancing! Our students had a wonderful time!

Though it wasn’t a typical Prom, students enjoyed the opportunity to dress up and have fun!