This year’s prom was held at the Tech Interactive in downtown San Jose on Saturday, May 23. The theme for this year was “City of Stars,” inspired by the movie “La La Land.”
For this year’s prom, the school rented out the entire Tech museum, giving students access to exhibits on both the top and bottom floors. The top floor featured the well-known exhibit, Body Worlds Decoded, which displays different bodily organs and tissues, as well as preserved bodies, for visitors to learn about human anatomy. These bodies were displayed in various poses to show off different muscle groups, and some students took inspiration and mirrored these poses in fun photoshoots with friends.
The top floor also featured a small balcony, giving students a momentary respite from the dance floor and presented photo-ops for many students. Additionally, the top floor featured a new exhibit—the dream garden—where students could take photos and relax.
The exhibit was also interactive; if students stood in front of the walls and waved their arms, they could grow their very own plant that mimicked their movements. Unfortunately, students had a limited amount of time on this floor, as security started asking students to head to the lower levels at 10:00 p.m..
The bottom floor featured the “Pixel Playground,” where students could build animals out of Lego and bring them to life through computer simulations and other interactive activities. Students could also find food on this floor, including an ice cream sundae bar and refreshments.
This floor was also the busiest all night long as students danced and partied. The DJ was located on this floor, and there were stroboscopic lights set up to luminate the space and add a fun, techno element to the dance floor. There were two photo booths set up on this floor, but paying for photos did cost extra.
Overall, the Tech Interactive was a fun, unique prom venue. The most glaring issue with the venue was the lack of “real” food, as all that was offered was ice cream, churros, cookies, and chips. However, many students extended their night out by going out to eat with friends after prom ended.
Junior Shashank Chamarty enjoyed his first prom, he said. He liked the music, venue, and food, especially the churros, he said.
“I liked the three stories, and then there was a lot of fun stuff to do, and since it’s a museum, there was a lot of stuff to look around,” he said. “Plus I liked the music, and then everything was clean. It was professional.”
Chamatry enjoyed dancing with his friends at prom, he said. He also liked exploring the top floor of the museum, he added.
“There were a bunch of skeletons, (that) kind of stuff, where there was a baseball player, there was a jumping dancer—that part was really good,” Chamatry said.
After prom, he and his friends went out to eat at Taco Bell, Chamatry said. He feels like a dinner should have been provided at prom, he added.
“I think they should have not like a full-fledged dinner, (but) they only give snacks and ice cream,” he said. “I think they should have given dinner.”
Senior Shreshta Santosh Prasan attended prom for the first time this year as well, she said. She went with her friends and enjoyed seeing everyone all dressed up, she added.
“It was a happy occasion,” Santosh Prasan said. “It wasn’t stressful. Usually when I see people at school, they’re stressed about grades and stuff, and we were just there to enjoy, have a good time.”
Prom was nice, but she wished the venue was fancier, Santosh Prasan said. She isn’t sure where her money for the prom ticket went, especially since there wasn’t a lot of food nor provided transportation, but she still enjoyed prom, Santosh Prasan added.
“I think it was more about the people for me than the menu because I would have enjoyed it regardless of where it was, but it could have been better,” she said.
Senior Everett Lee enjoyed prom and its location, he said.
“I’m kind of like a kid at heart, so I enjoyed a lot of the exhibitions, and going around playing with (the exhibits),” he said. “There was one where you had to communicate using your voice to build a structure. I had a lot of fun doing that.”
Lee really appreciated that there were different areas of the museum for students to explore, which enabled some students to relax on the quieter upper floors, he said.
“You could choose whether you want to indulge in the loud partygoing, dancing, and whatnot, or you could go visit the exhibits – treat it like you’re on a visit to the tech museum itself,” Lee said.
However, Lee wishes that prom was held on a different day because there was an anime convention happening that same evening, he said. Overall, he still had fun, Lee added.
“Parking was a genuine nightmare; it took us probably 30 minutes to actually just get into the venue because we had to drive to maybe three different parking sections because all of them were filled up by both the cosplayers and the convention goers, but other than that, I don’t really have any complaints,” he said.
Senior Khloe Xu had been to prom at Gilroy Gardens and had low expectations for this year’s prom, she said. However, she had a lot of fun at prom, she added.
“The vibe felt like some movies,” Xu said. “There’s a huge dance floor, and (when) you walk in, (there are) a bunch of levels and stuff. It felt like a movie kind of prom, honestly, compared to last year.”
However, Xu still prefers having prom at Gilroy Gardens, she said. While the dance floors were similar, the food at Gilroy Gardens was better and she prefers the amusement park rides over the interactive exhibits at the Tech Museum, Xu added.
“But honestly, even if I liked the venue for Gilroy better, I would say the most important part of prom is who you go with,” she said. “(You should) get people you really enjoy being around.”
