By Starly Richards,
Media Editor.
Prom 2026 was a night to remember, full of sweat, tears and mocktails galore. The venue, Healdsburg’s Villa Chanticleer, matched this year’s prom theme, Garden of Eden, to a T. The wooden building was tucked in a forested area with lights illuminating the entrance when you made it there. There were four different rooms: a foyer, a dance room, a lounge and a bar. While the venue was a good option for the theme, the building felt quite empty other than the people, photobooths and game area trying to make up for the lack of decoration. You would likely expect the theme to make you feel like you’re going to enter a building filled with lots of natural-looking decorations that would match the exterior vibe; however, this expectation was left hanging.
One highlight of prom was the prom royalty. Special congratulations to Prom Prince and Princess winners, juniors Tanyon Miller and Kaia Van-Seng, as well as Prom King and Queen, seniors Daniel Mills and Charisma Walin. It was an intense race for every sector of the court. Princess Van-Seng credits her campaign strategy for her epic win. “Campaigning was super fun; I just made it my whole life. I had all my friends help me and it was just a good time.” From silly posters to elaborate videos on Instagram, Van-Seng gave it her all and earned the win. Her senior counterpart Walin said, “I was really happy to win Prom Queen. I told my friends it would be really embarrassing if I lost because people kept calling out my name but I was happy that I could win with Daniel.” After weeks of our campus being covered with colorful posters and crazy campaigning hijinks, the results shocked nobody.
On the dance floor, students seemed to have fun, but there were definitely moments where they were forcing themselves to enjoy it. “Prom was lowkey buns aside from when I won and the drink bar; the venue was too small and it was really hot in there,” said Van-Seng. However, there were differing opinions: “I liked that they had a little something for everybody. I liked the bar area with the refreshing drinks and the game area for the people who hung out there with their friends. I also liked the dance area but it was so stuffed and it got to a point where it was so humid and gross,” said Walin. “Overall, I had a really good time.”
On top of the lack of fresh air, there was also a lack of fresh beats. Students attending prom have begun to notice that every school dance has almost the exact same playlist with one or two new songs thrown in each year for the crowd to look forward to, and very little remixing or actual DJ work goes into the performance. Senior Emma Verdu said, “The music was okay, it was kinda back and forth though. They had some songs that were at a good pace and some that were like, how do I dance to this?”
Even with its ups and downs, Prom 2026 was a night to remember, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come next year.
