While prom was packed with excitement from the lip-sync battle, there seemed to be something missing. Prizes were handed out, memories were captured in the photo booth, every student dressed to impress and yet for some, the suspense built up for this night fell short. Where were the crowns? Our Prom King and Queen were nowhere to be found.

Prom royalty has been a long-standing tradition in high schools across the U.S., and until last year, it had been a long-standing tradition for MN as well. This year, prom featured no such prom court.

Prom royalty can be viewed as a contest that elevates a very small number of people: those who win Prom King and Queen. MN administration felt this was not the best way to unite the school.

To continue to be an inclusive and progressive high school, the administration decided to replace prom royalty with a different activity that would be open for all students to participate in, hence the arrival of the lip-sync battle.

While the lip-sync battle is all inclusive and entertaining, it is missing the effect that prom royalty has. There is a certain charm that surrounds the coronation of school royalty at such an important event in a high schooler’s life. Without it, it does not quite feel like prom for many students.

The crowning of students may seem like it only elevates those with the crowns on their head, but it must be taken into account that these students won by majority vote of the student population. The act of nominating and voting for nominees provided an inclusive activity that the entire school could take part in.

The concern that this prom tradition is not welcoming to all students to participate in calls into question why school districts and administrations believe this. The stereotypical thought that prom royalty is a “popularity” contest is far from what it truly is.

In previous years, those who had been voted to be crowned prom royalty exemplified kind heartedness and positivity. Those individuals had won the majority vote because they were well-liked, not because they were “popular” or based off of their physical traits, but rather because of their personality.

Prom royalty was generally a uniting tradition in MN because when the Prom King and Queen were crowned, the majority of the student population was just as happy to see those students smile as those students were to be royalty. And that is because it was that very student population that voted for those students to be on the stage.

The loss of prom royalty is not detrimental to the student population; however, it is a tradition that this generation has grown up hearing about, and to miss out on it for the purpose of having a more inclusive experience nearly has the opposite effect. These students feel left out from the experience.

To be progressive does not mean leaving behind all traditions. Sometimes the best way to be progressive is to keep the traditions that encourage others to be good people and continue moving forward, much like many of the previous Prom King and Queen.