Students walk yellow brick road for Morris Prom Walk

MORRIS – The Morris Community High School gymnasium boasted a yellow brick road Saturday afternoon, over which a parade of young men and women dressed to the nines strutted their stuff.

Prom was this weekend and the annual prom walk was held just before the big event. The walk gives family and friends a chance to see the couples all dressed up and at their fashion best.

The theme this year was, “A Night in the Emerald City,” after the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Encircling the gym floor was a large oval mat painted with yellow rectangles, representing the yellow brick road. Principal Kelly Hussey said the Winterguard donated its old tarps that were used to make the distinctive runway.

“Everything is going fantastic,” Class of 2016 sponsor Laura Wills said midway through the event. “All the kids at Morris High School represent us so well, and I couldn’t be more proud of my students. ... They did so much more than classes have done in the past.”

The school’s proms are organized by each year’s junior class. Wills said they start their freshman year and work for three years on organizing and fundraising.

The students took a turn around the gym, stopped here and there for snapshots, then boarded the buses for the big event. In all, there were 344 students going and 20 chaperones.

Walking the runway, the girls were classy and sassy, and the boys dapper in their tuxedos and ties.

Friends Ian Bashor, a senior, and Autumn See, a junior, said they were excited about going to prom. See’s floor-length dress was of gold sequins, and her shoes were gold high-heeled platforms.

“My mom put the whole thing together,” she said.

Bashor sported a black tux with a gold vest and tie and said he was looking forward to the food the most. “It should be good,” he said with a smile.

Seniors Jocelyn Matamoras and Thomas Dabney chose pink for their color. Matamoras said the event was going to be a nice way for the upperclassmen to have some fun all together.

Cowboy boots were the footwear of choice for some of the prom-goers, including Jared Hendricks, Katheryn Johnson and Libby Ostrem. Hendricks even wore a cowboy hat.

“It’s just something we felt like we should do,” Johnson said. “It’s fun. It’s my personality.”

“I came from a long line of hillbillies,” Hendricks said.

All in all, there were the normal hitches of the prom walk – a few mishaps involving high heels and the long trains of gowns being stepped on, one just as the young woman began her walk around the gym. When she wasn’t going anywhere, she realized a foot was inadvertently standing on her train.

Senior Lildaryl James’ mother, Tiffany Guyton, and father, Daryl James, attended to see their son. He was attending prom with a group of friends. Guyton said she thought he would probably miss school after graduation. She was a little sentimental.

“He told me, ‘Thank you for making me the man that I am,’ ” she said.