The promenade dance, the original sendoff of the seniors. The junior class’s last way to say goodbye to the graduating class before it is their turn. However ones choose to describe it, every year, corsages, music and soft lights come together to make what is known today as prom.

The SHS prom has been hosted at the Indiana Roof Ballroom since 2011, so there are bound to be some changes throughout the years, right? Semi true, but also not. The Indiana Roof has been part of downtown Indianapolis history since 1927 and is a registered historic landmark. Being so, any physical changes aren’t allowed to be made without consulting the historical society to gain approval.

While the inside of the Indiana Roof hasn’t changed on the inside or out, the setup has. The organization with the staff has become more streamlined and more organized. There have been parameters and deadlines established to ensure smooth sailing leading up to each event.

While there have been changes to the way things are run, there are also many things that have stayed the same. Each year, the SHS prom has, and will continue to be, hosted at the Indiana Roof Ballroom on the second saturday in the month of May. The same location has been chosen each year mostly because the Indiana Roof isn’t more or less expensive than anywhere else that can hold the amount of people needing contained. In addition, it is the most beautiful, historic location in the city to host a prom,according to Barbara Whitlock, the sponsor of prom.

The ticket prices, too, are the same each year at $65, contrary to SHS popular belief. The ticket prices rose once a couple years ago due to a group of students that caused an elevator in the building to break by jumping inside of it.  If SHS students don’t want to pay more money for prom, don’t jump in the elevator.

Changes and similarities go hand-in-hand however, the generations and styles change while the location and setup stay constant. As each generation passes through, there has been, and will continue to be a prom court, the juniors will most likely continue to host prom, the timing and the placement will stay consistent and it will always be after spring break.

One particular similarity that has been challenged in the past, the prom court, could be challenged in the future. Whitlock has been against continuing to have a prom court at all, seeing it as archaic and only an activity out of tradition. Not only her views are taken into account for this case. Last year for the 2016 prom, only around 80 people voted in the nominations despite them being sent to every junior and senior. Even though there has been talk of the prom court being taken away Whitlock doesn’t think that it will be disbanded anytime soon.

The Indiana Roof Ballroom has had some subtle changed over the years but nothing major. The location is beneficial for high school students to get out of the south side and experience.