A year of work for a night to remember

Written by Cindy Nevitt Friday, May 18, 2012 01:00 am

If you’ve never attended the open house for the After Prom at Ocean City High School, make sure you get yourself there between 7:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday. If you’ve done the tour before, you know you need to take it again.

The theme changes every year, and with it, the decorations. This year’s theme is Continents Collide, and each of the planet’s seven continents will be recreated in different areas of the high school. The cafeteria will be transformed into Asia. Antarctica will be tucked into a hallway leading to the gym. The D hallway will become Australia.

“I didn’t even recognize where I was with the way the halls were decorated,” senior Gabby O’Connor said of last year’s After Prom experience.

A small group of women work year-round to make the After Prom a night for 500 to 650 juniors, seniors and their dates to remember. As soon as this year’s game booths are dismantled and stored away, co-chairs Cheryl Holmes and Ginger Foglio will call a meeting to assess what went right, what could have been better, and what the theme will be for next year, the After Prom’s 20^th.

Holmes, whose daughter Stephanie Foglio is also on the After Prom core committee, is typical of an After Prom committee member: someone who no longer has children in the high school. Her co-chair has a daughter, Lexi, who is a senior this year. DeDe Pollock, who for years, with Barb Foster, has handled the coordinating of the 100 volunteers needed to chaperone the After Prom, also has a daughter who is a senior.

Gail Ping, who heads the decorating committee, hasn’t had a child in the high school in five years. Carol Longo, who takes charge of the games, and Donna Schmidt, who is in charge of fundraising, are mothers of sons who graduated two years ago with my son. Alice Wolf, primary school nurse, continues working with the committee. Her mother, Edie Callahan, was the chair before her death in 1998.

Tony Pulcini, who chairs the food committee, is the father of two sons who are too young even for the primary school. He oversees the donations of 60 pizzas, 110 wraps, 70 hoagies, 100 pounds of chicken wings and tenders, hundreds of frozen drinks, 30 cases of water, 25 cases of soda, and other snacks such soft pretzels, funnel cakes, popcorn, macaroons, cotton candy, salt water taffy, water ice and french fries.

Area merchants donate prizes, such as a boy’s and a girl’s bike. The committee purchases big prizes such as iPads, iPod touches, iPods, a computer, and electronic readers like Nook and Kindle. At the end of the night, an OCHS senior wins $1,000 in cash and an OCHS junior wins $500 in cash. Students must be present to win prizes.

All of the labor to decorate the high school is free. All the food is donated. Still, the event, which is offered as an alcohol- and drug-free way to continue celebrating the prom, costs upward of $25,000 to put on.

The transformation of the building begins on Wednesday afternoon with two-by-fours hung from the ceilings. On Friday, sheets of paper will be stapled to the two-by-fours, creating false walls. On Thursday, the auxiliary gym is decorated. This is where most of the games are situated. On Friday, the main gym, where the inflated attractions are located, along with the money booth and the prize tables, is decorated, as are the hallways and cafeteria.

It is a major undertaking for a small band of volunteers. Micki Martin, whose daughter Mallory is a senior, and Dana Shepherd, whose daughter graduated three years ago, have been showing up for years to paint murals on the walls.

The committee looks forward to sharing with everyone the great event that After Prom is, and invites family, friends and the general public to tour the high school 7:30- 9 p.m. Saturday, May 19. So, after viewing the promenade at The Flanders, head over to the high school and enter on Sixth Street near the auditorium for a tour that will take you around the world in a matter of minutes.

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