Greater Latrobe cancels prom, plans summertime event for seniors

Greater Latrobe students will have to make do without a high school prom this year.

But district officials hope a proposed summertime “Senior Spectacular” will give members of the Class of 2020 a similar celebratory experience.

“We hope it’s going to be a very memorable event,” said district Superintendent Georgia Teppert, “something special that focuses on this senior class with what this class has gone through.”

District officials decided to cancel the May 8 grand march and prom once Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all public schools in the state closed indefinitely, to promote social distancing and help curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Students have been continuing coursework online, at home.

“We were in the position where we couldn’t commit to that in this crisis right now,” Teppert said of the prom, which would have included dinner and dancing at the Antonelli Event Center in North Huntingdon. The center will apply the district’s $1,000 deposit toward the 2021 prom, she said.

Unlike the prom, the “Spectacular” will be open only to seniors. If pandemic restrictions on gatherings ease by then, the event will be held on June 19 at Giannilli’s II restaurant in Unity. July 16 is a proposed backup date, if needed.

“We hope to do the senior slideshow that the seniors always get to see,” Teppert said. Presentation of student awards also is slated, along with dinner and dancing.

Teppert said students will be free to attend either in semi-f0rmal attire or in the suit or gown they may have intended to wear at the prom.

“Our senior class officers were on board with this,” she said of the event. “It was very well received. We’re happy that our students had a say in what was happening.”

For now, Greater Latrobe is still planning on a May 28 graduation ceremony for its 310 outgoing seniors. But it has set aside backup dates of June 25 or July 23.