While prom can be the highlight of high school for some, it may not be the best time for others. Prom court is reserved for the most recognized, friendly, and accomplished students. Prom king and queen are reserved for the best of the best. This might seem exciting and fun for some, but for others, it is only a display of massive egos and a serious blow to their self–esteem.

The student body elects the prom court via Google spreadsheet, allowing anyone to vote for whomever they please. While this does give anyone the opportunity to become king or queen, the chances for most are slim to none.

“The whole thing is a popularity contest,” senior Daniel Melendez said. “The criteria for king and queen are whichever guy plays the most sports, or whichever girl is prettiest and most popular. It isn’t about who they are as people, it’s about how many people know and like them.”

Some of the less popular kids would never get recognized as a possible candidate for prom king or queen. This can be a serious blow to their self—esteem if they had hoped to be nominated for the Prom court.  While not everyone can be on prom court, it tends to be just the most known kids that have a shot.

“It isn’t about how good of a person they are morally or how they treat people,” Melendez said.

We should completely get rid of Prom royalty because it favors top tier students. It’s like the presidential primaries, there could be a third party on the ballot, but not many people would vote for them because they are only familiar with the Democrat and Republican party.

Senior William McVay believes that the abolition of Prom royalty would be beneficial to the average student.

“I know many students who want to be prom king or queen and they get upset because they know they don’t have a chance at making it,” McVay said. “The whole thing is just to see who can beat who. It’s like a contest.”

Furthermore, it is the school’s prom royalty  that doesn’t do anything special, they are just figureheads for all the seniors. The only thing that makes them stand out among all of the other seniors attending Prom is that they get their name called and are adorned with crowns. Their positions do not stand for anything and prom does have some admirable morals, and it probably makes the few who have a chance feel really good about themselves. The issue stems from the fact that people do not get chosen based off who they are as people, but who they are in the high school hierarchy.

If the quiet student in the back of the room is participating in numerous charity events and does volunteer work outside of school, they still would not have a chance at becoming prom king or queen, since nobody really knows them. Prom king and queen are meant to be  a high school hallmark. They are supposed to be the best student role models; yet, it is impossible to know who the true role models are if they are outnumbered by the hundreds of seniors who vote by popularity.