Traditionally, issues concerning prom are voted upon during a Cougar TV presentation, in which the entire senior class would fill out a scantron ballot to vote. This process provided samples of the color and music selections for the students.

This year, however, the junior class prom committee, in charge of organizing and hosting the dance, decided that it would take an alternate route. After a week of advertising on the morning announcements, a table was set up during lunch in the red hall on the second floor where both juniors and seniors could vote. The selection process lasted three days, and did not include as many musical choices as in previous years, nor did it provide clips of the song choices. In addition, the prom committee decided not to continue the tradition of a prom color, and instead opted to give the dance a theme, "Midnight Masquerade."

The modifications to the voting procedures stirred up controversy and created a division between the classes. A number of seniors believed that many people had not heard the announcements and did not know where or when to vote. Many also felt that the junior class should not have a say in deciding the prom theme and song.

"The only people who knew about the voting eat in the red hall," senior Katie Fawley says, "and that's not even close to half of the people who would want to vote."

Members of the junior class prom committee said that changes to the voting process were made because the committee believed that only those who truly cared about the decorations and theme would make the effort to vote. They thought that those who were uninterested would not waste their time.

"I talked to [Principal Daniel] Shea about everything we did, and he said that we weren't doing anything wrong," junior prom committee leader Fiona Read says. "There are no real rules on how to organize prom or how to vote."

Besides the organization of the voting process, the prom committee has made other alterations to prom preparations. This year was the first time that juniors were allowed to vote on the theme, which will be displayed May 30 at the Indian Springs County Club. Members of the prom committee decided that it was only fair to have both classes vote, since the junior class would be creating and putting together the dance, as well as attending it. Since they are planning the dance, they felt that they should have a say in some decisions.

Read believes that the use of a theme instead of colors was an attempt to make the dance more unique. "We don't want prom to be like any old school dance," she says.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold as the dance approaches. Will the seniors and juniors reconcile their differences? Will this year's theme of "Midnight Masquerade" and the selected song I Will Always Love You, by Whitney Houston, be a success? For good or ill, this dance is sure to set new precedents for all future QO proms.