By: Mallory Gillespie

Following the closure of Derry Township School District for a 10 day period by order of Governor Wolf and the progression of the COVID-19 virus across the US, students at Hershey are concerned about school events like Prom.

At this point, both proms will still proceed as scheduled. Both events are scheduled to be held outside of the two week closure of the schools, so neither have been cancelled.

Señora Megan MacNicol, a teacher at HHS and advisor of the prom planning committee said, “Dr. Smith and I chatted this morning about the prom.  As of right now, the prom is still on as scheduled; however, I can’t promise that the status of the prom will not change in the future.”

The fate of Prom and other annual events held at HHS lie within the decisions of the district and state government to reopen or extend the closure of DTSD. This will all depend on the spread and exposure of coronavirus and keeping students and staff safe.

Senior Claire Sheppard said, “I’ve been looking forward to all of the senior activities for so many years now, and for it to be taken away from us so quickly is just hard to imagine.” 

The prom planning committees will continue to organize the proms until further notice. Still, students at HHS are worried about their special occasions being cancelled all together, resulting in missed fun opportunities for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

“I’m still really hoping everything works out,” Sheppard said, “but knowing that we might not be able to have a senior prom or a normal graduation makes me sad.”

MacNicol said, “We are all living one day at a time right now.”