The night started like any other dance with me picking up my date, Lucia, taking pictures, and going to the grand march. Leaving for the dance was a little delayed as Lucia and I were on one of the last buses leaving BSM headed off to Huntington Bank Stadium.

The dance began with the prom king and queen dance and then slowly but surely people began to join the dance floor. Starting off dancing did not go as planned for me however as I was lifted to be crowd surfed. This lasted for ten seconds that felt like forever and resulted in being put in the prom “jail” that was supervised by my teachers. It was a nice break from the loud and overwhelming atmosphere during the dance and I appreciated the time where I was able to catch up with some of the teachers I hadn’t seen in a while.

On the dance floor, the time flew as people began to leave the prom. Initially, there was a small congregation of seniors waiting to leave and then a bigger crowd waited at the door. Only a few seniors were left at the dance along with a majority of the junior class. I didn’t realize how quickly people were leaving, however, as the crowd began to shrink. At around 10:30, the last of the juniors had left and only my date and I were left at the dance.

We were told by the DJ that it was time to wrap up and we headed downstairs expecting to get on the last bus, but what we didn’t realize was that the last bus had just left. Mr. Weingartz, the freshman and sophomore assistant principal, didn’t want us to have to wait another 40 minutes for a bus and asked officer Luke, a Saint Louis Park police officer, if we could ride in his squad car. There was a small debate about logistics but, eventually, myself, Lucia, and Mr. Dooley and Mrs. Watson, English teachers at BSM, all got into the back of a squad car. In the back, the seats were plastic and the windows were barred. There was not a lot of room and the seats were indented. Despite the uncomfortable seats, we felt very secure in the car. Surprisingly, the conversation was pretty normal and there was little talk about being in a police car. By the time we had made it to BSM, we were the last ones there. We were greeted by a shocked Coach Creer, a football coach at BSM, who had a good laugh seeing Lucia and I escape the police car.

These surprises added to the excitement and made the night a definite success. Though it was certainly a unique experience for me, so has my time at BSM. It wouldn’t have been fitting to end my career of school dances at BSM in any other way.