BY ANNA GILGOFF

Special to The Press

As the last Sunday in May slid into a perfect evening, the Northwestern Lehigh Class of 2024 wrapped in their best finery, gathered like moths to a flame at the Aster Event Center, Breinigsville.

Dressed in midnight blues and the brightest hues of the season and classic tuxedos, prom goers gathered at several strategically placed stations where they enjoyed quesadillas, sliders, mac and cheese shooters, pigs in blankets, buffalo chicken bites, cheesesteak, spring rolls and risotto.

“We didn’t want to force a sit-down dinner,” said Class President Jordan Allen. “We wanted it to be a situation that was comfortable with food we wanted to eat.”

“We wanted nothing that would get all over your nice outfit,” added Class Vice President Olivia Senavaitis, smiling.

Allen said mocktails, such as Shirley Temples and nonalcoholic pina coladas were a definite highlight.

“For the desserts, luckily, they gave us brownies and cookies, and an assortment of chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and cupcakes,” Senavaitis said.

“We had a ballroom, but a separate area for photos, and there was a gazebo that was also available,” Allen noted. “We didn’t choose a theme.

“We wanted to leave it up to people to wear whatever they wanted. After all, this is the only prom we get.”

A few new additions added a distinctly unique touch to this year’s Prom, including Prom superlatives.

“This included best matching couple, best dance moves and best vibe,” Allen said. “We also added coolest shoes because guys and girls pay a lot more attention to their shoes, boots, and sneakers.

“Everyone has their favorite shoes that you know they’re going to rock.”

This was the first time Northwestern chose the Aster for Prom. Driving distance was one of the considerations.

“We visited a couple of different places, Twin Lakes and the Americus Hotel, but we thought some students wouldn’t feel comfortable driving that far,” said Tessa DeJesus, class secretary.

That made the Aster the perfect venue.

“Aster seems to be an up-and-coming venue option for proms,” said Duran Porrino, one of the advisers for the Class of 2024. “Their event coordinator said other districts are starting to use their venue as well.”

“The decision on the venue was made near the end of the junior year,” added Lissa Opolsky, the other class adviser. “The class selected the Aster as a new venue where the price point was reasonable and with the date available.”

The celebration was well deserved for a class that faced many challenges over the course of their time at Northwestern.

“Running for office was completely different,” Allen recalled, largely blaming the pandemic. “How do you connect with people you’re supposed to be representing when you’re not seeing them?”

“The officer elections were held when we were in the “hybrid” learning model,” Porrino explained. “Everything from candidate ‘campaigns’ to elections were done online and it was very challenging to make sure every student in the class felt a part of the election process.”

“We worked hard as a group and had good ideas but some of them weren’t feasible,” said DeJesus. “In our freshmen year we had very little money, but, we were able to keep the cost of the prom down anyway.”

“We couldn’t do food fundraisers,” said Allen.

“And still our prom tickets were only $40. “The truth of the matter is most people would rather spend money on food and other things.

“Then too, you’re trying to run fundraisers and of course you’re not seeing people.”

“We came out the other end, a little banged up and bruised up, but we were successful in fundraising by creating and selling the senior shirt, our Krispy Krème fundraiser, and our Homecoming Dance revenue,” said Nathaniel Smolinsky class treasurer. “If you paid your class dues, the prom was free.”

“We sold 177 tickets, so it’s a little bit more than our class size of 164,” said Senavaitis.

A few days before the prom, the four officers could barely suppress their enthusiasm.

“We’re so very excited,” said Allen. “It’s our last hurrah. We grew up together and it’s nice to have one last party together. This is a new chapter for us.”