Prom queen and king titles are normally chosen by nominations and voting, leading some to believe they are only ‘popularity contests’. However, 2015 is the second year MacArthur Prom queen and king will be decided by money.
Prompted by the 2013-2014 junior core, Prom king and queen are nominated in senior English classes, then winners are selected depending on who collects the most money for their respective charities they individually picked. Currently, each nominee competes to raise the largest amount of money before the Friday, March 20 deadline.
“[Getting people to donate is] the hard part, because it’s about the charities,” Prom queen nominee senior India Nikotich said. “I hate to be going around asking for money under the pretense of ‘oh because I want to be Prom queen.’ I think if you are able to separate [Prom and the charities] and just look at the cause, that’s what [people] should be putting their money towards.”
Each nominee has a different charities and a different reason why they think people should donate.
“I think my charity is awesome,” Nikotich said. “I think homeless people are still people, and they still have a voice and we need to be there for them. It’s a basic thing that I think people understand and will identify with. Also, it’s local. Haven for Hope is in San Antonio, [and] it’s a big part of the community.”
Prom king nominee and senior Nik Tesalona is attempting to collect for a cause that one of the MacArthur organizations supports.
“[My charity] it’s called John’s Run or Stroll, and it’s for babies with SIDS,” Tesalona said. “I [had] talked to a few teachers and students [because] I didn’t know a lot about organizations to donate to and I hadn’t looked real into it, so I just wanted to make sure the money was going to a good use. It’s actually the same organization that MacTeach will be working with when [they] actually go on John’s run, so it will all kind of work together.”
Nominees will be carrying around small decorated boxes to collect the dollars and change they receive. Saturday, March 21 Prom queen and king will be announced along with senior superlatives.
“[If I won] I’m sure I would get a good feeling, but it would be even better to know that [I raised] a significant amount of money,” Tesalona said. “It would [feel] good to donate that and actually make a difference to an organization.”
