Viehman says prom court voting should be about uniqueness, recognition rather than popularity

Today, the juniors and seniors of FHN nominated those they thought should be on court for the 2009 prom. We all got to write down two girls and two guys in our grade and send it in to see who will make the cut to represent our class. Before we even get the results back,

I can pretty much guess who will be on that list. It always seems to be the same people. The same group of girls and guys that get nominated for every other court or contest the school has.

Even though there are about 500 people in the senior class, there seems to only be a certain number represented through the homecoming and prom courts each year. I’m not trying to say that I don’t like the people that are chosen. I do! Those people deserve to be up there, showing off their school spirit and having a good time. The only thing I am asking for is diversity.

There are so many people at our school that never receive any recognition. Those that play not as popular sports, such as golf, tennis or swimming. Those that join clubs that don’t do as many things, like chess club, ecology club, or sign language club. Those that preform in the play, or even work behind the scenes. There are so many people in our school that do amazing and unique things, but they never seem to be equally represented by our school and our classmates.

Why is this? Are they not popular enough? Smart enough? Pretty enough? Courts should not be chosen for these reasons. The people that are chosen should be people who never get a chance to shine or those that do interesting or great things for our school. With so many unique and fun people in our school, our courts should have just as much diversity as the people in our school.

It’s true that some people don’t want to be up for court. Some people like to blend in and not cause a scene. There are people at our school who would die of embarrassment at the thought of standing up in front of a crowd. Those are not people we should nominate. But I know of plenty of people who always want a chance to be on court or to stand up at an assembly, but they are overlooked. It seems like a lot of people don’t really care who they nominate so they just write down the names of people who were on court from previous years. Then they complain later that it’s always the same people picked. The only way to change this is by writing down new names. Nothing is going to change if you don’t make an effort yourself.

When it’s time to vote for prom next homeroom, take a good look at your choices. It may be too late to change your nomination now, but you can still choose who you want to win. If there happens to be someone new on the list, vote for them. If you don’t know everyone on the list, vote for the person you know the least. They may be the person who deserves it the most. And next time nominations come up for homecoming or prom court, nominate someone who you think really deserves to be recognized. Nominate a person who has done something really spectacular for the school or the community. Nominate a person who never gets recognition for the things that they do, but deserves it more than anyone.

I’m not trying to make anyone mad or upset by what I wrote. I don’t think that the people who are nominated are bad people. I just believe that everyone should have a chance to be recognized by their classmates and that when the same type of student is shown on court each year, we lose a part of our school and who we really are.

FHNtoday.com

FHNtoday.com

FHNtoday.com

Viehman says prom court voting should be about uniqueness, recognition rather than popularity