By Kelty Jones / Columnist
It’s a chilly May morning, with the end of the year just around the corner. The daily walk across Souby lawn may have begun to feel more like a trek than a stroll, and, in keeping with the senior theme, the finish line is near enough to envision.
What really draws the appeal, however, is not the final day of school but what happens next: summer. To what extent do we look forward to Graduation, and to what extent do we sit through it in anticipation of the coming graduation parties? To the seniors and juniors, did the details of attending prom take up more or less space in your mind than those of the “afterparty”?
Students’ focus on the “after” is a trend that is not inherently detrimental. It serves us well when we look ahead to study for tests, even after a rough class, and motivate ourselves to get through said studying by planning something with friends for Friday afterward.
Every day, every assignment and every email can make students feel that looking perpetually at the horizon is the only way to stay both productive and proactive.
So what happens when we are truly enjoying ourselves, at a perfectly planned event, but cannot stop thinking about where we are going next, who will be there and what will happen, overcome with the stress of sociability that goes along with it?
To answer this question, we must first look to an endless source of entertainment that has provided audiences and enthusiasts alike with a manual of how to execute a glamorous, well-planned chain of events: awards shows.
The Academy Awards ceremony, hosted in California just this March, was a main event of recognition and congregation in the entertainment industry, and it was heavily covered by the press. Commercials, a red-carpet lead in and, per usual, Vanity Fair magazine’s iconic afterparty sandwiched the event itself.
Having sported a highly exclusive guest list since 1994, the party was initially a small gathering at a steakhouse and had not quite cemented itself as the only afterparty considered worth attending.
After expanding to bigger venues in the following years, the event became the hallmark of the magazine’s branding that it is today. However, as celebrities started hosting their own afterparties, they upped the ante.
By the 2000s, the ordeal had come to attract a growing horde of press, as its actor attendees had turned to higher fashion. The afterparty scene was a tough one to break into and an even tougher one to stay relevant in, but Vanity Fair has seemed to have more than made it, for better or for worse.
So what is the goal, exactly? Perhaps it is to give winners a chance to remain a cut above the other talented and arbitrarily successful attendees, attracting publicity for both its brand and its guests. Perhaps it is just to make money. So let’s compare it to our lifestyle here at the Hall.
We do enjoy the occasional publicity, whether through Bears Broadcasting or our official photographers. We have many recognition assemblies as well, and we certainly have a lot of people who meticulously plan and love to dress up.
Yet, imagine if Hallmarks or Logos hosted an exclusive afterparty after the All Club Celebration and Awards program.
While I would love to be your host and jot down “Campbell plaid, Parker uniforms” to record what designer you’re wearing while music blasts, a chocolate fountain whirs and chandeliers sparkle overhead, it would require us all to overlook the actual event when making preparations and concentrate on our ideal, yet tiring, end of the night instead.
While the concept of an afterparty does give its guests a chance to relax and cultivate an atmosphere usually more upbeat and intimate than the previous events, it can prey on their insecurities by promising the fleeting status of being “in,” and it can cause attendees to lose perspective.
So maybe it’s for the best that we all attend Graduation with a live-in-the-moment attitude, not worrying about the future or who we will need to impress in the hours after.
However, I will certainly be sure to make extensive celebratory plans with friends for the afternoon of the last exam day. I will try my best to enjoy the anticipation while still staying present, and I suggest that you all do the same!
