Posted on 03/07/2008 1:43:41 AM PST by restornu
Some Union teens choose LDS prom JOE MARUSAK Imagine a high school prom where dates are optional, the dress code is modest and the lyrics are clean. Imagine one that's free. Students from Union, Mecklenburg and surrounding counties have enjoyed such annual gatherings since 2003 through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The LDS proms, as the students and parents call them, are for ages 16-18 only and are held at a different LDS church throughout the region each year. This year's is March 15 at the LDS building on Lazy Lane in Mooresville.
The proms draw up to 150 students from as far away as Shelby to the west and Monroe to the east, parent Patti Hosford of Huntersville said. Students are of the LDS faith, but others are welcome as long as they agree to the dress code and other prom rules, she said.
"As a parent, I love the concept of the `modest' prom," Hosford told me in an e-mail this week. "It is a safe environment for my teenagers. The clothing, music and dancing is tasteful. Lewd behavior is not acceptable. There is no drinking. There is no checking into a hotel at the end of the dance.
"Some of the kids head to the bowling alley after the dance, maybe hang out watching movies, or get something to eat, but they all come home excited about the evening," Hosford said.
Hopewell High School senior Hannah Dunn, 17, of Charlotte said she enjoyed both her church and school proms last year, yet appreciates the values instilled through the LDS gathering.
"It's not fuddy-duddy," she said. "It's still fun, but in a good atmosphere."
Girls still dress up for the LDS prom, often spending what they would on dresses for their high school prom, she said.
For the LDS prom, "you have to have some sort of sleeve" on the gown, "and not too short and not too low in the front or back," said Dunn, who plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in the fall.
If they can't find a gown like that, the girls wear a cover over the dress.
Dunn said she appreciates the absence of lyrics that degrade people. "There's so much music out there, that you don't have to choose bad music," she said.
Hosford's son, Mitchell, 17, was busy this week helping select music for the March 15 prom.
"I look for more appropriate lyrics, with good moral values," said Hosford, a home-schooled student considering BYU after graduation.
He also likes the lack of pressure on teens to bring a date.
"Last year a girl asked me," he said. "This year I'm going stag."
CTR
there ought to be more proms like this and there would be less tragedies on prom nights all over America....I include drunk driving (for those who can’t afford a limo), teen pregnancies, and loss of virginity (and yes, I think of that as a tragedy).
As a Catholic, I commend the LDS folks for making this available for the general public’s teenaged kids (particularly if the service is done without any explicit or implicit proselytizing...and, from my dealings with LDS in the past, I expect that this is the case).
In fact, I am going to forward this to my parish council as a suggestion for something that we might be able to get going on an inter-faith basis for the kids in our community (get various faith communities involved in providing a decent alternative for the HS kids).
This type of thing is a growing trend. The Catholic high school my kids went to here does a similar thing. The teens get locked in at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore and have a great time together without alcohol, drugs and lewd behavior.
Parents need to take control of what is going on in the schools. In secular schools, after 12 years of liberal indoctrination, it’s no wonder a handful of kids go nuts at prom time, sometimes with tragic endings.
I agree...I wish this existed when I was a kid...I am Catholic as well and even in the 1980s it was hard to resist all the temptations of prom night.
Union teens? what local?
I think it is the name of the town.
http://www.charlotte.com/union/story/524171.html
LDS prom
Details: Patti Hosford at 704-766-0059; PJFHosford@carolina.rr.com. Joe Marusak
Joe Marusak: 704-351-2037; jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com
I know, I was being a wisearse. Heaven help us if the youts unionize. :)
It is in Union County, North Carolina. It is just southeast of Charlotte and has been one of the fastest growing counties in the US for the past several years.
The Charlotte Home Education Association also holds an annual ball, with a historic theme, for homeschooled teens and family members of all ages. As with the LDS dance, decent clothes are required. However, there is a fee.
I remember my prom from the pre-80’s ( ha ha ) I didn’t come home. My parents for once did not get on to me, I was 18 though.
1984. Many seniors took the day off school to fluff up, but I went to my English class because we had a guest speaker on Shakespeare scheduled. Then I went to the gun range with my Dad, and he and I and Mom went out to dinner at the best seafood place in the area. (”Frankie’s” under the Bridge-Tunnel, Virginia Beach, VA.)
Wouldn’t trade it for all the proms in the world!
Long married, and loads of children. But I’m sure there’s someone out there for you! I fear my daughters are too young :-).
My goodness, it sounds like you really are interested in my daughter: guns, Shakespeare, and sports cars!
Are you under 30?
LOL, no—I was talking to mothers in general!
No more Liberal girls!
“Imagine a high school prom where dates are optional, the dress code is modest and the lyrics are clean. Imagine one that’s free.”
Whatever one thinks of Mormons, this has to be better than 14-15 year olds dry humping on the gym floor and calling it “dancing.”
I was just kidding - didn’t really think you were after 16-yaer-olds.
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