For the last three years I’ve been asked by students from my senior high Community Group to drive them and their dates to prom. If you are interested you can check out year one here and year two here.
I am amazed that a group of public school students would want to spend a good portion of their prom with their youth pastor. This past Friday I had the privilege of taking ten students to their prom in the Waters Edge party bus. I picked them up and took them to take pictures at City Center. A HUGE group of students met there. It was so much fun seeing so many Waters Edge students before prom. After lots of photos we made our way to Williamsburg to eat at Bone Fish Grill. The students collected money to pay for me and Monica to eat dinner. I was so honored to sit at dinner with them on their prom night! I was also very excited to eat but not have to pay for Bone Fish. Can you say Bang Bang Shrimp? That stuff is a party, plus an after party in your mouth. It’s amazing! From there we went down the road to the Kingsmill Marriott.
The night was so much fun for both me and Monica. In a day and age where it’s easy to use prom as an excuse to make stupid decisions I’ve been blessed by students who decided to go a different route. Enjoy some pictures of my night as a limo driver.
Pictured Above: The students on their way to take pictures. Notice Dillon Tulip (bottom right) showing off his suspenders. He was really proud of those.
Pictured Above: Rob driving the WEC Party Bus.
Pictured Above: Alainna and Monica. I got to take Alaina’s oldest sister to prom two years ago. How cool is that?
Pictured Above: Rob and Monica at City Center.
Pictured Above: This group of girls didn’t ride with us but three out four go to WEC. Like I said it was fun seeing so many WEC students before the prom.
Pictured Above: Austin, Rob, and Dillon. I’ve known Dillon since he was in sixth grade. Austin and Dillon have been a part of my Student Community Group since they were freshmen.
Pictured Above: The Party Bus students at City Center.
Pictured Above: The students wanted a picture of everybody and the Party Bus.
Pictured Above: These are Monica’s shoes. They were a graduation gift for her getting her Master’s. It took seven Shepherds to buy these shoes. Monica got them when her feet were swollen from being pregnant with the twins. This was the first time she could wear them out in public. She looked great in them!
Pictured Above: Rob and the Students at Bone Fish.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being should have stayed at home and 10 being best night ever) how was your prom night?
30 Comments
Daniel Carman
on June 3, 2011 at 11:23 am
I've said this twice before, but I'll say it again. This is cool. Love that young people are living out their faith when so many others go another way.
my prom night was a 10! with a little help from you and Monica! awhuduup original WEC party bus member?! glad the awesome class of 09 could start this great tradition! i hope it keeps going!
Glad Monica got to finally wear her shoes!! I went to 3 proms. The first 2 were okay- went with serious boyfriends… blah blah. The 3rd one was AWESOME– went with a friend & afterwards he dropped me off to hang out with my new boyfriend at the time– Josh Fowler! We went to eat with my friends & he then drove the me to my parents house an hour away, even though he lived close to where prom was held. 🙂
my school prided itself in academics to the point that we were one of 3 schools from VA(TJ and Maggie Walker being the other 2) to send a team of students to Chicago for Scholastic Challenge. Out of 400 schools,we came in 45th.
I'm hoping we could buy you and Monica dinner at Bonefish so you will take Dean to his prom ….. Yes, I am bribing you !!! May 2016 Save The Date ! That would be so awesome 🙂
Thats cool your students would want to hang out with you. You must be one rad dude. (Can you still use the word "rad".) I only went my senior prom and only be because my then GF now WIFEY was going to win prom queen. Our prom was kind of lame other than that. Small town school….
I'd say both my Junior and Senior proms were probably at a 9. Had great dates, it was at a beautiful hotel, and really fun dancing! I went to the Junior prom as a sophmore with a guy I was dating, and it was lame- but MY proms were a blast!
Cool idea! I help out with 10th graders at church…. and to get involved and invested in their lives and interests has been something that I've tried to do. Gradually… 🙂
Prom…umm…it was about an 8/10. I went with a friend cause my boyfriend wasn't allowed on school property (which extended to prom). nice. so…i went with a guy who (i found out later) was a drug dealer. but, he was very nice and treated me like a princess. he wasn't very bright, and accidentally tipped the limo driver 100%. oops. he was a total gentleman and didn't even try to hold my hand during the night (i think my bf was one of his best clients.)
awesome, huh? i wish i had had a youth leader so invested in me…maybe i would've gone with someone cooler. hahaha.
I've said this twice before, but I'll say it again. This is cool. Love that young people are living out their faith when so many others go another way.
Proud of you and Mon in the significant influence you have here. Beautiful group!
Love the shoe pic, too.
Dillon Tulip is not allowed to move more than 20 miles away. He just isn't. I don't know if I'd ever be able to get over it.
The week of my prom I was in chicago hanging out with friends in the espnzone so I would say it went better than the dance my school had 🙂
my prom night was a 10! with a little help from you and Monica! awhuduup original WEC party bus member?! glad the awesome class of 09 could start this great tradition! i hope it keeps going!
See, I thought Dillon was showing he was packin, crazy williamsburg and all! And mon, what a hottie mama you looked in you Goddess shoes!!! Muah!
Williamsburg is pretty crazy.
Brad, that year was so much fun!
Why were you in Chicago?
I hear ya. He's the man!
Mim, thanks! You played a huge roll in those shoes.
Me too Daniel…me too.
Glad Monica got to finally wear her shoes!!
I went to 3 proms. The first 2 were okay- went with serious boyfriends… blah blah.
The 3rd one was AWESOME– went with a friend & afterwards he dropped me off to hang out with my new boyfriend at the time– Josh Fowler! We went to eat with my friends & he then drove the me to my parents house an hour away, even though he lived close to where prom was held. 🙂
my school prided itself in academics to the point that we were one of 3 schools from VA(TJ and Maggie Walker being the other 2) to send a team of students to Chicago for Scholastic Challenge. Out of 400 schools,we came in 45th.
Love those pics.
My prom? Umm. 3/10. At the after prom party, I found my date making out with my friend in the hot tub.
I can't make this stuff up.
But I can laugh at it now.
Glad you helped these kids have a better night than mine! (And I love M's shoes!)
I'm hoping we could buy you and Monica dinner at Bonefish so you will take Dean to his prom ….. Yes, I am bribing you !!! May 2016 Save The Date ! That would be so awesome 🙂
Thats cool your students would want to hang out with you. You must be one rad dude. (Can you still use the word "rad".) I only went my senior prom and only be because my then GF now WIFEY was going to win prom queen. Our prom was kind of lame other than that. Small town school….
I'd say both my Junior and Senior proms were probably at a 9. Had great dates, it was at a beautiful hotel, and really fun dancing! I went to the Junior prom as a sophmore with a guy I was dating, and it was lame- but MY proms were a blast!
Cool idea! I help out with 10th graders at church…. and to get involved and invested in their lives and interests has been something that I've tried to do. Gradually… 🙂
That's awesome! 🙂 Looks like y'all had fun. 🙂
We did. It's one of my favorite nights of the year.
Thanks Dustin. This really was their idea. I love that I get to do it each year!
Wo…you had a lot of proms. That's cool.
Joseph, you can def still use rad. I say if you can use legit then you can def still use rad.
May 2016…I don't know what I'm doing but that would be fun.
Boo. That was a bad date.
3 proms? That's a lot of prom. Glad you ended up with that Fowler guy. He seems cool.
Prom…umm…it was about an 8/10. I went with a friend cause my boyfriend wasn't allowed on school property (which extended to prom). nice. so…i went with a guy who (i found out later) was a drug dealer. but, he was very nice and treated me like a princess. he wasn't very bright, and accidentally tipped the limo driver 100%. oops. he was a total gentleman and didn't even try to hold my hand during the night (i think my bf was one of his best clients.)
awesome, huh? i wish i had had a youth leader so invested in me…maybe i would've gone with someone cooler. hahaha.
Wow. Lindsey, your prom was basically an episode of 90210.
3–and it is only that high because I go to do my favorite dance: The Hokey Pokey.