After two school years of cancellations and drawbacks, Shaler Area High School is finally returning to normalcy with its end-of-the-year celebrations for seniors: senior dinner and prom.

Senior dinner was previously held at the Mt. Troy Ballroom, but they no longer rent out. Instead, this year, it will take place on the The Empress from the Gateway Clipper Fleet on Thursday, May 5. This is the first year it will be held on one of the Pittsburgh-based riverboats in place of the removal of after-prom. The boat that we usually rented for after-prom, The Majestic, is no longer in commission and the Gateway Clipper’s maximum capacity boat is 350.

“Administration wanted to give the seniors the boat experience. All of our graduating classes are under 350, so we decided to give everyone that opportunity and use the Gateway Clipper for senior dinner instead,” Activities Director Mrs. Mindy Thiel said.

In addition to the change in location, senior dinner on the Gateway Clipper will include a DJ for the first time ever, as it’s included in their package. Students will have time to dance after eating and watching the hypnotist.

Prom, which will take place on Friday, May 27, will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Station Square, as usual. The theme will be “One Enchanted Evening” with the colors consisting of sage green, purple, and gold. One of the differences, of course, is that there will be no after-prom.

After-prom was a Shaler Area tradition that normally consisted of a photo booth, airbrush tattoo artists, licensed psychics, a balloon artist, and a caricature artist. This year, they will be bringing all of those vendors to prom. Thiel sees this as a great idea because “there’s so much more to do if you don’t just want to dance.”

This combination of prom and after-prom had its trial run last year and turned out to be a success. Also, similar to previous years (except last year), seniors are allowed to bring guests from other schools or class of 2021 graduates. Underclassmen are also allowed to come if they are invited by a senior.

Although there will be a few changes to the end-of-year senior celebrations, there is still a lot of excitement and anticipation that these changes are for the best.